Vanished
by LIVEreadLOVEwriteLAUGH
Summary: *Full Summary inside* It was the beginning of junior year when Gabriella Montez left suddenly, with no waring to anyone... or so it seemed. 11 months later she's back with some secrets that you would never expect. I suck at summaries!
1. Trailer

**Summary: It was the middle of junior year when Gabriella Montez left suddenly. No goodbye, no hugs, no warning. To anybody. Eleven months later she returns with some secrets that it seems, Sharpay Evans, East High's resident ice queen and someone she never got along with, Ryan Evans and Taylor McKessie know all about. Did they know she was leaving? Why didn't they say anything? For the last eleven months when everyone, especially Troy Bolton, has been missing her, the three remained quiet. But the question on everyone's mind is why did she leave? And what secret is she really hiding? Everything isn't what it seems.**

Normal- Narrator Bold-Actions

It was the gang's junior year of high school

**Shows the gang walking through the doors of East High.**

After surviving a summer of pure torture…

**Shows Troy standing with Gabriella while she's singing 'I Gotta Go My Own Way'**

They were finally ready to sit back and enjoy the drama-less school year.

**Shows Sharpay walking down the halls glaring.**

Who were they kidding?

**Shows Gabriella packing a suitcase.**

One minute she was there…

**Shows Troy walking into Homeroom looking around for someone**

And the next she was gone.

**Shows the gang standing in front of the dark Montez house shocked.**

It's been eleven months and everything's changed.

**Shows Troy shooting a basket and shaking his head when it doesn't go in.**

They're all finally seniors so they should be happy right?

**Shows Chad frowning while watching something.**

But when the person they least expected to see…

**Gabriella walks into homeroom and hands a paper to Miss. Darbus.**

Returns.

**Shows Gabriella unfolding clothes in her room.**

Things will be turned up side down.

**Shows Troy standing there with his mouth open in shock and Chad with an angry look on his face.**

She was there, but then she was gone. Will she disappear again? Or is she back for good?

See what will happen in…

**Flashes to Gabriella crying in a dark room**

Vanished.


	2. Prologue

**Prologue**

She tried. She really had, she wanted nothing more then to be able to get away. All she wanted right now was to not be here… in this room. This room was filled with darkness. She couldn't figure out what was going on. She stood in the middle crying out for someone, anyone. But no one came and the darkness slowly took over her body. She cried and she pleaded but nothing helped, it just got worse. Without warning there was a bright light. She shielded her eyes from the glare as the light continued to grow. Her eyes widened before a large burst of light took over the entire room. The light slowly dimmed and before our eyes she was gone. But where had she gone? She vanished.

* * *

A/N: Okay so i'm sure you're all really confused right now... and i'm not really sure how much i like the prologue but oh well the actually story will be better i promise. Anyways i'm going to explain a little. I know that HSM 2 took place before the gangs senior year but i'm chaning it. So say Gabby was a sophomore when she first showed up, they all looked like they did in the first movie in the second movie. Cause i think in the second movie they looked more grown up so how they looked in the second movie is how they look now, in their senior year. When Gabriella returns it's going to be like a week or two before school actually start. ANy more questions just review and i'll answer them before the next chapter ) let me know...


	3. Beyond Weird

**Chapter 1- Beyond weird**

"Dude Troy, come on you used to make these shoots more then once in a blue moon," Chad exclaimed exasperated.

I groan dropping on to the ground with the basketball next to me, "Don't you think I know that?"

He rolls his eyes at me, "Come on Troy let's just go up to mine."

I nod sighing as I stand up and walk into his house. When we get in his mom's putting the groceries away. I smile at her and Chad kisses her cheek.

"Hey mom."

"Hi sweetie. Hi Troy."

"Hi Mrs. D"

"How was practice?"

"Fine." "Not good."

I glared at Chad and he shrugged walking up to his room. I follow him and close the door behind me.

"Chad come on it wasn't that bad."

"Troy school starts in two weeks, we've been trying since last year to get your game back to normal, nothing's working! How are we going to win championship this year when our captain can't make a shot."

I glare at him, "I can make a shot."

He rolls his eyes, "Whatever. I need to call Tay."

I sigh and walk over to his bedroom window. Chad's room is in the front of his house and the window gives you a perfect view of the house across the street. I stared at the house for a minute. And was about to turn away when something caught my eye. A girl with long dark hair was walking up the driveway carrying a box. I watched as she opened the front door and walked in placing it on the floor before walking out to the large moving van where several men stood and pointing to one of the windows and motioning to some of the stuff in the van. I watch curiously as they nod before turning to Chad to see him just dialing Taylor's number.

"Chad?"

"Hm?" he says uninterested.

"You're getting new neighbors."

He looks up at me, "Yeah right, Troy the only house they could move into would be… Shit!" he exclaims his eyes wide.

He runs to the window and stares wide eyed at the boxes and furniture being moved in.

"Oh god," he whispers, shaking his head.

I stare at the different objects and the men bringing them in. I forget about the girl and watch as new things take over the house.

I shake my head, "Almost a year… I can't believe it's happening."

Chad shakes his head sadly, "I never thought I would see someone move into Gabby's house, I mean we never saw a for sale sign," he says hesitantly glancing over at me as I continue to stare out the window, "I should call Taylor."

I nod my head and turn away from the window, sitting in his computer chair and listening to the ringing of Chad's phone, he put it on speaker.

"Hello?" Taylor sweet voice reaches through the phone.

Chad smiles, "Hey Tay," he says softly.

"What's wrong babe? Are you okay?"

"Umm Tay, Troy and I were just you know sitting around when we noticed something…"

"What?" she asks irritated, "And Chad this better not be some joke! I was getting ready to go shopping."

Chad rolls his eyes, "No this isn't a joke Tay…. Umm we saw someone moving into Gabriella's house."

There's a silence on the other end. But then, more to herself then to us, we hear Taylor start mumbling.

"That's not possible…. She told me she didn't sell it… But that would have to mean… Oh no way she would have told me… but then again she had a surprise for us…no way! NO WAY! AHHHHHHH! I need to call Sharpay!"

Chad and I stare wide-eyed at each other when all we hear is a dial tone. We stare at the phone, willing it to answer some of the questions we have.

Chad shakes his head, getting out of his trance like state, "Why does she need to call Sharpay? Ice queen? You know the girl we all hate? With the exception of Zeke."

I shrug still trying to sort out Taylor's rambling, "She's your girlfriend dude."

Chad nods and walks over to the window again. He stares out it as I turn on his computer. About 2 minutes later I hear Chad gasp.

"Whoa!"

"Chad what is it?" I say walking over to the window.

"That's Taylor… in Sharpay's car. And they're both running up the driveway."

I watch as Taylor and Sharpay, two people who have never gotten along, who hate each other and barely talk to each other, squeal together as they run quickly up to the door. But before they can get to it, the door opens wide and they stop walking, watching excitedly as the same girl from earlier backs out of the house, her back turned to them, with another box. She turns to face them and her mouth drops open in shock, as well as Taylor and Sharpay's. I see the mystery girl drop the box she's holding and all three girls suddenly squeal so loudly I can actually hear it through Chad's closed window. I glance at Chad to see a similar look of confusion on his face before turning back to the three squeal girls. They're jumping up and down talking excitedly back and forth. The mystery girl motions to the house. I watch as the other two girls nod eagerly and follow her into the house still talking. We stare at the front door long after it closes.

"Did you see that?" Chad asks in a stunned tone.

I nod, "Umm yeah. When do you think they'll come out?"

He shrug, "We'll have to see… Why was did Tay arrive with Sharpay anyways?"

It's not secret that after last summer, no one in our group of friends liked Sharpay. She almost broke me… and Gabriella… up. Not like it mattered in the end anyways, I think bitterly.

I shrug, "I don't know… who do you think the girl was? She didn't look too familiar."

He shrugs yet again, "I don't know. I just want to know how they both know her… and if we'll get to meet her," He thinks about what he just said, "Then again if she's friends with Sharpay I don't know if I want to know her."

I chuckle, "Yeah but she's also friends with Taylor from what I saw,"

I see Chad get confused, "I don't get how one person can be friends with both girls… I didn't even know they knew the same people."

For the rest of the night Chad and I stayed up in his room, once in a while glancing at the window to see when the girls would leave…. But it never happened. Sharpay's pink car stayed out front of the Montez's old house for the next two days. They came outside once in a while to just help with the boxes it was obvious that more then one person was moving in. But I never saw anyone besides the brunette. Chad tried calling Taylor, several times but she didn't answer the two days she was across the street. She didn't look at us when we were outside playing basketball, in fact she didn't seem to notice us. We thought it was weird, actually beyond weird, we didn't know what to make of it. But eventually we gave up. We had more things to worry about then a strange brunette moving into my ex-girlfriend's, if you could really call her that, house.

_**Flashback**_

"Hey Tay have you seen Gabriella?" I asked my girlfriend's best friend.

She looked at me shaking her head, "Nope not since last night… why?"

"Oh," I say disappointed, "We were supposed to meet up at her locker today before homeroom…but she wasn't there."

Taylor shrugs, "Maybe she's in there already."

I notice Taylor avoiding my eyes, but figure she just has something on her mind.

"You okay Tay? You seem distracted."

She nods, smiling at me, "Yeah I'm fine… Have you seen Chad? Oh you know what I'll go find him quick. Troy I'll see you in homeroom." She says walking away from me.

I shrug and walk quickly toward Ms. Darbus' room. I stand in the doorway, looking for the beautiful brunette. I look toward the back, her normal seat, and see it empty. I eye it curiously. Gabriella is always here early, extremely early. I suddenly notice that I'm not only in the room and I shudder. Sharpay and Ryan Evans are sitting in their normal seats in the front. My eyes widen and I become more curious when I see both of them, staring sadly toward the back of the room.

"Mr. Bolton, you are awfully early today. Don't just stand there, Sit!" Ms. Darbus screeches.

I snap out of my trance and walk toward my seat. I see Ryan and Sharpay look at each other quickly then at me. Both look… worried? Why would they be worried?

I turn to Ryan, ignoring his sister, "What were you guys looking in the back for?"

He glances at Sharpay, no matter how much this summer changed him I guess he'll always be her poodle, "N-n-nothing," he stutters.

I eye him curiously, "Bolton, just back off alright?" Sharpay snaps getting into her ice queen persona.

I roll my eyes at her, smiling sickly sweet, "Whatever ice queen," I say just as the basketball team plus Kelsi, Taylor and Martha walk in.

I look around the group of guys, searching for my girlfriend. Chad notices this as he sits down next to me.

"Troy, what are you looking for dude?" then he looks back toward where Taylor's sitting talking to Kelsi then he turns back to me curiously, "Where's Gab? I thought you were meeting her here earlier?"

I shrug continuing to stare at the door, "I don't know, she wasn't at her locker and I haven't seen her all morning."

Chad shrugs, "Maybe she's sick."

I stare at him with a 'yeah right' look on my face, "Even if she was sick and her mom made her stay home you know she would have told me, you or Taylor that she wasn't coming."

Chad nods, "Well you know she's been off all year, maybe something came up."

I look at him curiously, "What do you mean off all year?"

He stares at me, "Dude have you not noticed your own girlfriend has been acting weird?"

I shake my head, "What are you talking about?"

He sighs and shakes his head, "We'll just talk to her about it later… I'm sure she'll explain."

I nod my head and turn to listen to Ms. Darbus' rant. Through the whole day I would stare at the door, longing for Gabriella to just walk in and smile at me, but she never did. None of the teachers questioned her absence, which I found weird they always ask where she is. At the end of the day we gathered the gang and walked toward Brie's house. We all talked amongst each other… except Taylor who was unusually quiet. She was standing next to Chad, whose arm was draped across her shoulders, staring at the ground as we were walking. She looks lost in thought as we walked toward Gabriella's. When we finally reached the house she looked up. I stared at the house that had so many memories for me and immediately could tell something was off. Everyone else around me stopped talking as they glanced up at the house. The windows were all bare and not one light was turned on. It was a strange feeling to see a house so normally full of life, look so… dead. We all stood there staring at the house until finally, Kelsi stepped away from Jason and walked slowly up the long swirling sidewalk. We all stayed behind, watching as she walked to the house and rang the doorbell. When no one answered she turned to us and shrugged.

"Something's not right," Zeke mumbles.

We watch in silence as Kelsi pushes the door open and turns back to us, surprised. She walks in slowly before glancing around. I hear her gasps quietly before she locks the door and shuts it behind her. She has her head down as she walks back toward us. She reaches us and we all silently wait for an answer. I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I know that's it been there since this morning when I first realized Gabriella wasn't meeting me at her locker.

"Kels?" Martha questions.

Kelsi shakes her head and slowly looks up to us, her eyes filled with tears that are falling down her face, "She's gone," she whispers, "The house is empty."

Several people gasp but I just stare up at this house, wishing for it to be a dream.

"Kelsi… tell me that's not true. Tell me that this is some joke you guys are pulling and that she'll come running into my arms laughing and giggling." I say desperately to the sobbing girl in Jason's arms.

She shakes her head, "I'm sorry Troy, so sorry."

I turn to look at Taylor and see her staring at the house, still as a stature. Chad stands behind her, rubbing her shoulders for comfort, but she doesn't seem to notice. A single tear slips down her cheek and she shakes her head. I know immediately that she had a similar feeling I had all day, she's known this morning when I'd talked to her that something wasn't right, but she didn't want to say anything. I watched as she slowly sat down on the sidewalk staring at the house, oblivious to the sounds going on around her. She finally looks up at me, her eyes emotionless, and I can see now… I see something I should have seen before, something I should have seen a long time ago… that was how Gabriella had looked for the longest time. I shake my head sadly, scolding myself over and over again. How could I not notice that the sparkle had gone from her eyes? I know what Chad was talking about earlies and I see the worry in his eyes, knowing that he sees the same look he had seen from Gabriella, the look I had been either to blind or to oblivious to see for a while. I shake my head sadly and kneel down beside Taylor holding on to her as a single thought slowly crosses my mind… Things will never be the same.

**_End Flashback

* * *

_**

A/N: Okay who's confused? Well good I like confusing everyone ) I hope you guys liked the first official chapter and if there are any questions feel free to ask.

Reviews would be grand)

Katie G!


	4. She’s the reason!

**Chapter 2- _She's_ the reason I didn't see my girlfriend the last two week of summer!**

I stood in front of the large brick building, it was surrounded with different red and white markings, and in front of it was a giant statue. The statue that made a feeling of pride swell inside of my stomach, but then I looked up at the giant building and a feeling of dread came over me. How could two things so close to each other cause two completely different feelings? Today was the first day of school. But there was a small bright side it was the last year of high school. That's right ladies and gentlemen Chad Michael Danforth is almost ready to graduate high school. I groan before I walked into school. Normally, I'd be surrounded by tons of people, all my friends, but I was running a little late as I was. I walked quickly up the steps of East High and into the building then I quickly walked to my locker. I groaned again, spinning the dial and opening my empty locker. I really need to bring in my supplies. I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a locker slam shut not to far from mine. I glanced up and squinted when I saw a girl with long brown hair closing a familiar locker. The locker that used to belong to Gabriella Montez, the girl I thought of as my little sister. I sigh, I had watched her old house for the last two weeks, trying to get a glimpse of the girl who was so familiar to me, but I couldn't see her face. I constantly saw Taylor and Sharpay at the house, every once and a while Ryan would be with them, but I never saw her. And it bothered me because she just seemed so familiar. That and the fact I didn't see my girlfriend the last two weeks of summer because of her. Distantly I heard the bell ring and jumped, grabbing the only thing in my locker, my trusty basketball and ran all the way to Darbus' room. I sprinted in and bolted through the door 30 seconds after the bell rang. I put my hands on my knees breathing heavily.

"Danforth! First day of class and your late!"

"Sorry Ms. Darbus… I over slept."

"That's not an excuse!" she screeched at me, "And get rid of that basketball! This isn't a football field!"

I rolled my eyes, you would think that after having me explain to her for the last four years of my life, every day, that basketball was played on a basketball court she would finally get it. I sat down in my seat next to Troy to see him staring blankly at the wall ahead of him. He's done that a lot since Gobi vanished, especially in school. I need to find a way to get her out of his head. Because let's face it, it's been almost eleven months since anyone has seen her, she's not coming back. I glanced back at Taylor to see her in a conversation with Kelsi, who was sitting next to Jason. She seemed to be into the conversation, to someone who doesn't know her like I do. She was really antsy, and kept glancing at… Sharpay! What is up with her and Sharpay? Anyways, her eyes would dart to the door, then the clock, then back to Sharpay who shrugged. Again I was snapped out of my thoughts when the classroom door opened and highs were heard on the tile floor. Someone gasped and I looked over at the doorway to see…. OH MY GOD! I watched with my mouth open in shock as she confidently walked up to Ms. Darbus, who was still in ranting mode and did not notice her. However when she cleared her throat, the small part of the class that wasn't watching her, which included the gang, turned to look at her. Again I heard gasps of shock and turned to see Troy, pale and staring at her wide eyed.

"Hi Ms. Darbus," she said in her sweet voice.

"Ms. Montez, note please?" What's this? The old bats not surprised by her return! "Ahh thank you, go ahead, take your same seat in the back next to Ms. McKessie."

Gabriella smiled at her and nodded, walking in between Troy's desk and mine. She avoided everyone's eyes, pretending that not the whole classroom was staring at her and sat down next to Taylor. My eyebrows furred when I saw Taylor discreetly send her a grin. What the hell? I looked at Troy, to see him staring at her still as she sat back in her seat, pretending not to notice anyone else staring at her. I glanced her up and down, and even though I think of her as a little sister, I had to say she looked…. HOT! Not that she wasn't always gorgeous, it's just she looked different. Her dark skinny jeans, hugged her curves and her peep toe heels made her legs look much longer then they are. Her body has changed slightly, she's matured… if you know what I mean, and the low cut but not too low cut black baby doll top shows that. She's wearing a long gold necklace with a small pendant attacked to the end, I think it's a star, and she has more makeup on then she used to wear. Not too much, wear it looks like she's a tramp, but all last year I only ever saw her wear mascara, and that was when we went out. She never needed makeup in fact I don't think she does now… maybe it was just the fact that she grew up. I couldn't believe she was here… in the flesh, right now, just when I was thinking of getting Troy to get over her. Not that I still wasn't thinking that, I mean no matter how much of a little sister she was to me, I can't get over her hurting Troy and everyone else, even if she had her reasons, we were all hurt. We all cried, when we saw the house was dark. What made it harder was we had no chance to say goodbye. I was scared out of my thoughts when the bell rang. I was stood up but was pushed back in my seat by a figure that made a mad dash for the door, dropping a piece of paper as they went by. I glanced at Troy to see him staring after the figure and realized that it must have been Gabriella. As the paper fluttered down to the floor I opened it and peered inside.

"Troy," I whispered.

He still stood staring at the door, just like most of the other people in class. I rolled my eyes and slapped the back of his head.

He flinched, "What Chad?" he hissed, glancing to the door.

"You want to know why Gabriella left?"

His eyes grow wide and his fist clench, "You knew why she left?"

I lean back away from him, "No dude, I'm just saying we can find out."

I relaxes and eyes me, "How do you plan on doing that?"

I smile triumphantly and hold up the note, "Theater at 12:30?"

He looks at the note and rolls his eyes, sighing, "You're lucky I'm not that hungry for lunch anymore."

I drop the note on the floor and we walk out after the rest of the class. As the note fell to the floor he was unaware that one person, a person who no one would want to show up at the theater at 12:30, had read the note and grinned. On the note, it read…

_Tay-_

_Theater 12:30, during lunch…. You know whose coming too! _

_XX Gabi._

_Gabi-_

_Running a little late? No worries see you and her there at 12:30._

_OO Tay_

* * *

A/N: Oh boy so Gabriella and Taylor… plus the mystery person, don't know that they'll have at least three people watching them. Also will Chad figure out why that girl looks so familiar? And why is Taylor acting like friend with Sharpay all the sudden? Could it have to do with the mysterious girl? And how will Gabriella feel about her best friend being friends with her "enemy"?

Sorry about the late update, and then it was really short but I promise the next one will be better, and hopefully clear some stuff up… I have three stories, (including this one) going on right now, it was kinda of stupid for me to do that but, anyways I'm trying to come up with a schedule so that at least they all get equal attention. Reviews?

-Katie G! )


	5. Surprise Surprise Surprise

**Chapter 3- Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.**

I smile glancing around the place that always found a way to bring me comfort. The large stage in front of me was where I felt at home. I could pretend to be anything and anyone I wanted, or I could sing and play the piano without anyone listening. When I used to hide away, no one would look for me here, they always looked in the science lab or the math room but never the theater. They knew I was a singer, and that it was something I liked doing but they didn't know how deep my passion for it really ran. I walk slowly up the steps to the stage. I turn in a circle leisurely taking in the stage. That was one thing I missed, being back on stage, where all your problems melt away. The loud bang of a door closing causes me to whip around and face where the audience would be sitting. I smile.

"You're early."

"Were you expecting me late?" she asks with a smile.

I laugh, "That would be more like you."

She smirks at me, "Well you of all people should know that I'm not the same as I used to be."

I laugh again, "Are you going to come to your 'chapel of the arts' princess? Or let me steal it away from you again?" I was teasing her, and she knew it.

She laughed, "Gabi you can't steal this way from me, it's my home. But I also realize that you belong here now too."

I give her a small smile, "Are you going to come and give me a hug?"

She raises an eyebrow at me and walks slowly toward the stage, "You're not sick of me yet? You've seen me everyday for the last two weeks."

I vigorously shake my head, "It's impossible for me to get sick of you. Especially when I spent almost a year without seeing you and everyone else."

She smiles and hugs me tightly, "Good because you, Gabriella Montez, are officially my best friend."

I giggle, "Since when does the Sharpay Evans have friends?"

"Gabi stop making fun of Sharpay… wow I never thought I would say that."

I smile, "Taylor McKessie running late, what is this world coming to!"

She laughs humorlessly, "You were late this morning."

I smile sheepishly, "I have an excuse."

Taylor rolls her eyes then hugs Sharpay and me, "Well you look great if that's the reason why you were late."

Sharpay nods, "Being away from this place did you good."

I sigh glancing around, "But I missed it so much. Being here, seeing you guys," I say turning to them with a smile.

"Talking on the phone and emailing isn't the same," Sharpay agrees.

"Yup and now that you're back we can finally take the school by surprise with our friendship," Taylor smirks.

I smile mischievously, "The student body needs to be ready."

Sharpay laughs, "Brie I think you're the one who needs to be ready."

"What do you mean?" I ask curiously, scrunching my face up.

"Did you forget that you left for 11 months and only told me, Taylor and Ryan?"

"YOU KNEW!"

I whip around and my mouth drops open in shock.

**End Gabi's POV

* * *

**

**New POV**

"Ready guys?" Chad asks.

I jump up glaring at him, "It took you that long to watch where she was going?"

He glares at me, "I didn't want her to see me."

Kelsi rolls her eyes, "What are we doing her Chad? Why did you follow Taylor?"

"Because she's meeting Gabi and some mystery girl here in the theater right now."

We all stare silently at the door to the theater.

"Okay, we can open the door a crack and listen to what they're saying, the voices carry," I suggest.

Troy nods," Good idea Zeke, go ahead, crack it a little bit."

I nod slightly and push lightly on the door. We hear voices and I glance at everyone else to see them already listening intently.

"**Well you look great if that counts for anything." We hear Taylor say.**

"**Being away from this place did you good."**

I turned wide-eyed to face everyone else.

"Sharpay!" Martha mouths and we all nod in disbelief.

Suddenly Gabriella's voice fills the auditorium and I allow myself a small smile at the sound.

"**But I missed it so much," she says, "Being here, seeing you guys."**

"**Talking on the phone and emailing isn't the same." Sharpay says agreeing with her.**

Again my eyes widen and I turn confused to look at Jason.

"**Yup and now that you're back we can finally take the school by surprise with our friendship." Taylor says happily.**

"Friendship?" Kelsi whispers.

"**The student body needs to be ready," We hear Gabriella say.**

**Sharpay laughs, "Brie I think you're the one who needs to be ready."**

"**What do you mean?" Gabby asks in a confused voice.**

"**Did you forget that you left for 11 months and told only me, Taylor and Ryan?"**

My head suddenly started spinning, they knew?

"You knew!" Chad explodes, bursting into the theater, Troy following closely behind.

I turn to the other three left and we simultaneously burst through the same door. On the stage three shocked girls stand. For the first time I get a good look at Gabriella's face… Ladies and Gentlemen, Gabriella Montez is back!

End Zeke's POV

New POV

Crap. That is the only thing running through my mind right now… well that and poor Taylor. The three of us stand on the stage, Taylor to shocked to speak and Gabriella nervously biting her lip.

"You knew!" Chad growls staring between Taylor and I.

Gabriella steps forward, "Listen why don't we…"

"Shut up you!" Chad explodes glaring at her.

I raise and eyebrow and open my mouth, but Gabi beats me to it, "Don't tell me to shut up Chad Danforth! How about you learn not to yell at people! Or is your brain to small to process manners!"

I smirk and so does Taylor. Oh how I love confident Gabriella. Everyone else in the theater stares at her.

"What did you just say?" Chad stutters.

"You heard her," I say in a sharp voice, "So why don't you just turn around and maybe try walking calmly back in here," I say in a commanding voice.

They all glare at me, "Shut it Ice Princess," Chad hisses.

Gabriella steps forward more, "Don't call her that!" she yells at him.

Again everyone goes quiet, staring at her. She glances at me, asking with her eyes if I'm okay. She knows how I feel about the nickname. I nod and give her a small smile in thanks.

Kelsi clears her throat and steps in front of Chad, she nods toward Gabriella, staring at her, "You're back." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

I scoff and roll my eyes, way to point out the obvious.

"I'm back." Gabi states.

Kelsi nods again taking a deep breathe and look between Taylor and I, "For good?" She asks quietly.

Gabi nods, "For good."

Kelsi nods, "Okay," she sighs before repeating herself, "Okay…. Welcome back." She says as she hugs Gabriella tightly.

Taylor and me smile to each other, "Thanks Kels," Gabi whispers.

"But your not off the hook Gabs," Kelsi whispers back.

"That's it Kelsi!" Chad demands.

"Oh get over it," I snap.

Kelsi shrugs, "I missed her, she's back, and there's no reason for me to be angry with her if she obviously had a reason to leave."

"She still left!" Chad exclaims.

"Oh get over it!" I snap

He glares at me, "This doesn't concern you." He turns suddenly and stalks out of the theater, everyone else following behind him, "Taylor! Kelsi! Let's go!"

Kelsi frowns slightly but walks off the stage. I turn to Taylor whose standing still next to me.

When Chad gets to the door he turns around again, "Taylor now!"

She raises an eyebrow and doesn't move, "No."

Chad's face is absolutely priceless, the dufus looks like he's been hit in the face with a fish.

"What do you mean Taylor?"

"You don't own me Chad. I'm staying here with Gabi and Sharpay." Taylor says calmly.

"Do you hear what you're saying? It's bad enough that you knew she was gone and now your friends with them?" he asks incredulous.

"Yes and if you can't except them then maybe…"

"Tay," Gabriella interrupts, "It's fine. Go ahead."

Taylor shakes her head, "No Brie, I would rather be here with the two of you. Chad we're over."

Chad's eyes do wide and he takes one final look at Gabriella and me before walking out the door. Everyone else followed quietly behind him, but Kelsi turned around.

"I'll call you guys later."

We nod, "Bye Kels," Gabi says.

After the door closes behind her, Gabi and I quickly turn to Taylor.

"You really didn't have to do that." Gabriella says quietly.

"Yes I did, he wouldn't have forgiven me for not saying I knew where you were anyways."

Gabriella sighs, "I'm sorry Taylor."

"Ella it's not your fault."

I laugh, "Guys let's just change the subject."

Taylor nods, "Yeah… Gabs any news?"

Gabi closes her eyes and shakes her head, "I guess when my mom calls she'll tell me how everything's going."

"You never did explain the whole trial."

"I'm not allowed in the trial until I turn 18."

I nod, "Because you're still a minor."

She sighs, "Yeah."

"Do you miss her?" Taylor asks quietly.

Gabi nods, "I haven't seen her for 3 weeks."

I smile in what I hope is sympathetic, "I can't wait to see her again."

"You don't know that you'll see her again," Gabi snaps, "We still didn't tell the court how it happened."

"We want to try and avoid you having to talk about it," Taylor says.

"We?" Gabi questions.

"Elle did you really think we would let you go to the trial without us there?" I ask her smirking.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Your not asking, we're telling you. I've been with you since the beginning of this, I'm not going to keep being there for you," I say my voice full of determination.

"Me too," Taylor pipes up.

She smiles at us, "Thank you. I love you guys."

We smile and hug. But what we failed to see were the pair of eyes, watching and the ears, listening, to us form behind the curtain. And as we walked out to face East High together, closing the door to the theater behind us, the person stepped out of the shadows, a smirk pasted on his face. 'This could be fun' the person thought.

**End Sharpay's POV

* * *

**

**Gabi's POV**

"Gabs I'll meet you home later. Taylor and me are going to get our stuff, pick up Ryan, some movies and more snacks seeing as we ate them last night," Sharpay says.

I laugh, "We're eating me out of house and home."

Sharpay laughs along with me, "You want a ride home?"

I shake my head, "I'll walk."

"Be careful," she warns.

I wink at her, "No worries."

She rolls her eyes and pulls out of the parking lot, speeding away from the school. I sigh taking out my new Glide, as I start to walk home. I text Taylor and tell her Shar will pick her up later and we'll meet up at my house. I'm walking to my house, just taking in the scenery that is Albuquerque. The dark green grass, large light colored houses, the birds flying through the warm air chirping happily. Suddenly I'm transported back to the last day I was here.

**_Flashback_**

From the open balcony door, birds could be heard chirping and so could children laughing. The warm air and the sun shiny down showed how happy and beautiful the day was outside, but inside the room, the other side of the door, it held a feeling of despair. I sighed swiping at the tears running down my cheeks before pushing myself off the railing and walking back into my room, closing the door behind me. I quickly throw my hair up into a messy bun and finish folding some clothes I had just finished taking out of my closet. Most of them were going to charity.

"Need some help?" A quiet voice calls from the doorway.

I nod, "I haven't done anything except empty the closet."

She sighs, "You don't have a lot of time."

"I know," I snap. I exhale shaking my head softly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. You've got a lot going on."

I stubbornly shake my head, "I shouldn't have snapped at you Shar. You've been great through this whole thing."

She smiles, "I'm glad I could help a little."

I laugh, "You helped a lot. More then Tay."

Sharpay shrugs, "She found out a week ago Brie. Give it time."

I nod, continuing to put my clothes in the charity bag.

"I don't want to leave," I whispers my voice full of tears.

Sharpay finally walks away from the doorway and into my room. She pulls me into a hug.

"I don't want you to leave either. But it's for the best."

I close my eyes breathing deeply, "I know. So you really think I'm doing the right thing?"

"This isn't about what I think Gabs, do you think you're doing what's right for you?"

I twirl one of the curls that's hanging down from my messy bun, and come up with the same answer that I've come up with since the rainy day at the beginning of the month when things took a turn for the worst. No one can know. With that thought in my head I nod and Sharpay smiles sadly.

"Well then that's all that matters," she whispers.

I glance around my room, "We should probably get stuff on top of the dressers, then do the bookshelves," I pause, walking to the pictures on one of my dressers, "Is Tay coming?"

Sharpay shrugs, "I didn't talk to her at all in school today."

"Me either," I grumble taking a picture off the dressers and staring at it, seeing a smiling Taylor and me at our summer jobs at Lava Springs.

Sharpay gently takes the picture, "She knows that you need to do this," She places it gently in the box on my bed, "but you're her "sister", you get her. It'll be hard for her without you here."

I glance at Sharpay smiling sadly, "Just for her?"

Sharpay rolls her eyes, "And me."

I shake my head, smiling to myself, "I can't believe that we needed something like this to get us to grow up and become best friend."

"Best friends?"

"Oh, don't act like you didn't already know you were my best friend."

Sharpay laughs, "Don't let Tay here you say that."

I laugh too picking up the next picture, it's incased in a black frame. Several tears fall down my face and land on the glass covering the picture. Sharpay sighs, coming over and putting her hands on my arms, resting her chin on my shoulder.

"Brie…"

I clear my throat, "Um, that's the last picture, we have 3 more hours till my mom gets home… so we need to hurry up."

"Gabs…"

"Shar not now," I say moving away from her.

"He'll wait for you. Yu know that right?" she whispers.

"Maybe I don't want him to wait for me," I whisper back.

I lightly place the picture in the box before tapping it closed and watching as Troy's smiling face and my own, disappear.

**_End Flashback_**

The light shuffling of feet behind me snaps me out of my thoughts. I freeze and slowly turn around, I swallow the sudden lump forming in my throat.

"Hi," I whisper.

He nods looking me up and down, "I almost didn't recognize you."

I clear my throat, "Umm your hair is darker and shorter," I point out.

He laughs humorlessly, "I think it would be easier for me to point out the things that haven't changed about you."

I shrug, not really knowing what to say, "Where are you going?"

He eyes me and points to the house directly across from mine, "Chad's."

Crap. I forgot Chad lived there. How could I forget that? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Oh," I whisper finally feeling very small.

He nods again, "Someone moved in to your old house. Look like one person… can't be any older then us though."

I avoid his gaze, "Um, I move back in there."

The strength of his gaze suddenly becomes harsher and it causes my to squirm.

"Right because if you're going to leave and only tell three people they'll be the ones who greet you when you come home," the bitterness in his voice is impossible to miss.

I look quickly up into his bright blue eyes, "How did you…"

"I was at Chad's house the day you "moved" in. Too bad I was unaware that you were even "moving out" in the first pace," his voice is cold and it's hard for me not to flinch at the tone.

"Troy…"

"Was I not special enough to know?" he pretends to think, "No that wasn't it, Sharpay knew," he glares at me, "You were aware that she succeeded in breaking us up two summers ago right?"

"You don't know the whole story," I whisper.

"So then tell me!" he explodes.

I flinch, "I…"

"Gabs!"

I turn to my right, letting out a breath relief. I always loved Sharpay's pink car.

She eyes me and Troy, "Are you coming into your house? Or just standing in the driveway?"

"I'm coming," I turn to Troy, "By…"

He walks away from me and to Chad's house before I can finish saying good-bye. I close my eyes and sigh running a hand through my hair. I take a look at the house, staring at Chad's window and I sadly shake my head before walking into my house.

* * *

A/N: OH MY GOD I AM SOOO SORRY!! I've been so busy and I'm really going to focus on trying to update a lot more like I used to… anyways I hope you liked this chapter…

Katie G!


	6. Flashbacks From the Old Best Friend

**Chapter 4- Flashbacks From the Old Best Friend**

"Gabi what were you doing!" I demand.

Gabriella shrugs throwing her bag over her shoulder as she walks up the stairs, "He just came up behind me, what was I supposed to do ignore him?"

I nod and throw my hands up in the air, "Yes!"

She sighs and runs a hand through her hair, "I feel like I owe him an explaination. I mean... I left."

I frown at the tone in her voice, "You had a good reason," Ryan points out queitly from behind me.

She nods, "I know but still..." she enters her room.

I glance at Ryan, "Still what Gabs?" I ask coming in behind her.

"I love him," She says simply.

My heart breaks slightly for the sadness in her voice, but I groan none the less, "You would think being in California where there's tons of hot surfer guys would make you get over Troy Bolton and Albuquerque."

And I state the truth there. If I was her, I'm not entirely sure I would have even come back. Maybe that's what I was afraid of. That she wouldn't come back.

She shrugs, "I've been there before, it was good to be back and see some familiar faces... but being there just made me realize how much of my life is here."

Ryan smirks, "And me."

SAY WHAT!?... he was kidding right?

Gabriella laughs, "Yeah that is the sole reason why I came back here. Ryan was here."

OMG! MY TWIN BROTHER IS IN LOVE WITH MY BEST FRIEND WHO JUST ADMITED TO LOVING SOMEONE ELSE!

"Really!" I exclaim looking between them confused.

Suddenly they both start laughing. Hysterically laughing, they both fall to the floor rolling around in laughter. Taylor walks in and looks down at them, raising an eyebrow.

"Did the party start without me again?"

I laugh, "I think said something stupid."

Although I am still very confused, I try not to look it. They start to laugh harder and I get even more confused.

"I would think so." Taylor says.

But because I was staring at the two of the most important people in my life laughing together, I hadn't detected the sadness in her voice.

**End Sharpay's POV**

* * *

**Taylor's POV**

I watch with sad eyes as Gabriella continues to laugh with Ryan. Don't get me wrong! I'm happy she's back... beyond happy. But it used to be me she laughed and joked around with. And ever since last year I feel like I'm being replaced in her life. Even before I knew what had really happened, I would see Gabi and Sharpay together and feel like Sharpay was replacing me. Scratch that. I knew she replaced me. And now, i was nothing but the old best friend.

**Flashback**

I smiled to one of the girls on the scholstic decathalon team and continued to walk down the hallway towards Gabi's locker. She had been really quiet lately and I had decided I would stop at her house early to walk to school with her so we could talk. But when I got to her house, Maria, Gabi's mom, told me that she had already left. I had shrugged it off, figuring that maybe she was going to meet Troy. I stopped suddenly as I gazed at the sight in front of me. She, Sharpay Elise Evans, was giggling with my best friend. Well, Sharpay was giggling, Gabi was really just standing there smiling. I watched as they interacted comfortably with eachother and Gabriella even managed to see semi-normal compared to the zombie that had been walking around the school since the beginning of the school year. I stayed still as Sharpay hugged her and rushed off while Gabriella turned back to her open locker. Glancing around I realized that the hallway had been completeley deserted and that only me and Gabriella were left. I pasted a smile on my face, trying to keep any suspicion or discomfort away from my features and walked closer to her.

"Hi Gabi!"

She jumped slightly and turned to look at me. She nodded a little and turned back to her locker. I frowned and tried to think of something to say.

"Gabs did you do the calculus? Because I really don't understand..." I trialed off watching as she shook her head. My mouth dropped open in shock, "You didn't do the homework!" Again she shook her head, "Is that a no I did do it or a no I didn't do it?"

"I didn't do it," she whispered.

I opened my mouth, but I was inturupted.

"Hey girls!"

I sighed as the gang walked over to Gabi's locker. I hadn't even noticed that the hallway had filled with students. Chad came over and wrapped his arms around my waist as Troy did the same to Gabriella. I frowned when I saw her tense and tried to catch her eye, but she was still looking in her locker.

"You okay babe?" Chad whispered in my ear.

I nodded, distracted, as the loud conversation went on around us. I continued to stare at Gabriella.

"Gabs?" I whispered in a desperate voice.

In seconds everyone had quieted down and was looking between Gabriella, who was still "rummaging" through her locker, and I.

"Brie?" Troy asked curiously.

Chad looked between the two of us, and caught almost immediately that something wasn't right, unusual for him I know.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Gabi..." I whispered again in a strangeled tone.

She finally closed her locker and turned to look at me. I almost gasp at her dead eyes. They held no emotions, there was no familiar twinkle, or lovng gazes, they were dead. Those were the eyes I had seen since the beginning of the year.

She gave everyone a small smile, "Sorry, i'm just tired," she whispered.

"Gab..." I said slightly louder.

"Tay what's wrong?" Kelsi asked worried.

I sighed, and looked up into Gabriella's emotionless eyes again, "Gabriella didn't do her Calculus homework."

There was a small silence, beofre Tory burst out laughing, but no one else around him thougth it was funny.

"That's what's your so worried about?" Trpy said in between laughs.

I nodded but Kelsi stepped foward, ignoring Trpy's question and looked at Gabi concerned, "Gabs why didn't you do the homework?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I forgot," she whispered.

"But you don't ever forget anything," Jason said as he pointed a finger at her.

Troy chuckeled, "Guys chill! She just forgot to do her work, it happenes," he turned to look at her, "ready to go to homeroom?"

Gabriella smiles at him and nodded her head. He put an arm around her shoulder, he missed that she flinched again and walked toward Darbus' room with her. I watches as they walked further away from us, the picture perfect couple... or so it seemed.

"What's wrong with her?" Zeke asked concerned as he too stared after them.

Everyone continued to watch them until they were out of sight, then they turned to me.

I sighed and shrugged, "I don't know. I really don't know." I finsish sadly as Chad pulled me into a tight comforting hug, "We should just goto homeroom."

They all nodded and we walked to our classroom. Honestly for the rest of the day I couldn't concentrate. I didn't focus on school work, but more on my best friend who stayed silent in all of the classes I had with her. Something was seriously wrong. And I decided that I would figure out what was wrong.

**Two Days Later**

I sighed as I walked out of the Library, for the third week in a row not being able to find Gabriella before lunch. I walked slowly down the hall, hoping that if I walked slower, and prolonged the time it would take me to reach the cafeteria, she would show up. But it became clear when I reached the giant red double doors, that I would again walk in alone. I took a deep breath and pushed the doors open, I walked past the usual stares and sat down once i reached our table.

"Hey Tay!" Jason exclaimed and everyone else smiled at me... "Where's Gab? At the Library again?" he asked, looking around.

Everyone else turned to look at me, Troy included, and I avoided their eyes carefully, "Yeah."

They all nodded, and continued on with their previous conversations as I glanced around. My eyes zoned in on the top level of East High's Cafeteria where I saw a concerned Sharpay staring at the double doors. After a few seconds she looked away, instead she chose to stare at our table, watching every person, looking for someone. An alarmed look came across her face, and she quickly rushed down the stairs and out the door. Before anyone could say anything i jumped up and flew out after her, ignoring the calls from my friends. For some reason, I had a feeling that Sharpay could lead me to Gabriella. So I followed silently behind as Sharpay rushed through the empty hallways, her desinger shoes clicking on the tile floor, as I steathily followed behind her. I rolled my eyes, this reminded me of Chad and his Charlie's Angels fanatasy. I metally slapped myself, focus Taylor! I watched curiously as Sharapy slipped through a partially hidden door, when she was through I rushed foward, hoping I would catch it before it slammed shut. And I did, I caught the door and quickly walked through, allowing it to then slam shut behind me. I again rolled my eyes when I see that I had followed Sharpay behind stage. I should have known. I started to turn back around, but then I registered the sounds going on around me and froze. Someone was crying, no, not crying, sobbing hysterically.

"It's getting to hard Shar!" That voice sounded so familiar, but there was too many tears to really tell.

"Shhh... Ella I wish there was something I could do, but there's nothing," Sharpay whispered.

"Nothing's going right anymore Sharpay, I just hoped that for once this year, something would go my way!" The girl exclaimed.

Sharpay sighed sadly, "When did you find out?"

"This morning," came the tearful reply.

"Is that why you didn't meet me this morning?"

"I was late."

"Don't lie to me Ella," Sharpay says in a warning tone.

"Shar, what am I going to do... my mom..."

"Gabriella Elizabeth Carmen Loretta Montez do not even worry about that now!"

My mouth dropped open, Gabi? I thought her middle name was just Elizabeth... and why is she crying!

"I'm sorry Shar, I just... nothing's going right, everything falling apart, I just feel like I'm going to crash and burn."

"I would let you fall alone Ella. We're in this together, I promised you that you wouldn't feel alone and I'm not going to break that promise. Ever." Sharpay said determined.

There was a pause, before I heard Gabriella speak softly, "I love you 'Pay."

I felt a pain in my chest when I heard Gabriella had a nickname for her.

"I love you too Elle Belle."

I wouldn't allow my tears to fall as I walked swiftly out of the theater.

**At the end of the day**

I sighed watching Gabriella walk away from Troy and out of school. I decided that I would follow her home with the intention of sitting her down and talking with her. She was walking for a few minutes when I noticed that instead of heading straight, like she should, she took a sharp turn left down a street with larger houses. My eye brows furred in confusion when she reahced what was clearly the largest house on the street and walked up the driveway, rining the doorbell, before walking in. I shrugged and walked up the driveway and to the door, I didn't ring the doorbell but instead pressed my ear against the door. I heard giggling, one that is definately Gabriella, and the other... I shook my head sadly and glanced at the door, finally seeing the name on the gold plate. Evans. I sighed, ignoring the tears of frustration and worry that fell down my face and walked home. Besides, I thought, there's always tomorrow.

For everyday that week I continued to watch Gabriella. She was "forgetting" homework almost everyday, her skin was steadily getting paler, her eyes still held no emotion. But I noticed more now that her and Sharpay weren't being as discrete as they thought. They were almost always together, if they weren't together they would smile at each other or Ryan would wink at Gabi. The strangest thing was when Gabi wasn't looking, Sharpay and Ryan would share worried glances. Sharpay would nervously bite her lip or Ryan's eyes would dart around cautiously. What the hell was going on. If Gabriella wasn't in lunch neither were Sharpay and Ryan. But I wasn't the only one who noticed her abscences were coming to frequent or that she was looking deathly sick. Everyone else, excluding Troy, was worried about her. They all started looking for her during lunch, they would split up some would look in the library, others in the science lab, or the math rooms, they even looked in her and Troy's secret spot. But not me, I would go straight to the theater, and everytime I would find them there. Not always how I first did, sometimes they would be playing the piano or singing or eating lunch and just talking. One time I even saw Ms. Darbus there with them! i just can't figure out what's going on with her. And it was scareing me... because i knew her so well. So on saturday morning I walked to Gabriella's house and rang the doorbell expecting to see Maria Montez opening the door for me with her kind smile. But instead, I was greeted by a tall, thin, blonde women with an overly bright smile. At second glance, I saw that this was Sharpay and Ryan's mother.

"Hello dear, Taylor right?" I nodded, still speechless, "Oh well, come in sweetie."

I walk further into the house and heard... laughter? In the living room Mr. Evans, Maria, Sharpay, Ryan and Gabriella were all sitting down laughing about something.

"Gabi sweetie, Taylor's here to see you."

The three teenagers froze and turned to look at me.

"Oh... thanks Lori."

Mrs. Evans smiled, "No problem sweetie."

Gabriella silently stood up shooting a look to Sharpay and Ryan, telling them to sit still, and walked me through the kitchen and out the back door.

"What are you doing here Taylor?" she asked me quietly.

"I could ask you the same thing," I said harshly.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Hanging out with the Ice Queen and her family? Seriously Gabi."

"Hey don't call her that!" Gabi exclaimed.

"Don't you see that she's just using you! All she wants is Troy and depending on her for whatever you have been lately is only going to make it worse when she takes everything away from you... just like last summer."

"That's not true," she whispered.

"Oh open your eyes Gabriella! She's an evil coniving bitch!"

"Taylor stop!"

"No! You don't understand how worried I've been about you! You haven't been yourself at all! You've been like this," I exploded motioning to her, "for weeks! You're being all emo and I don't get why you can't just tell me what the hell is going on!"

She froze and stared at me open mouthed for a minute before suddenly, unexpectedly she started wailing. Crying hysertically as she fell to the ground. I gasped and rushed foward gathering her in my arms as she continually mumbled she was sorry.

"Shhh Gabi, it's okay. Don't worry everything will be okay."

"No Tay... nothing will be okay ever again."

"Gabi..."

"Tay, you need to know. I need to tell you now. I ... I should have told you a long time ago like Sharpay told me to." I looked at her shocked and opened my mouth, but she interupted me, "It all started on the first day of school..."

**End Flashback**

"Tay! Tay!"

"Huh?" I ask shaking my head to rid myself of the memories.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asks.

I glance around, "Yeah... where did Shar and Gabi go?"

"They walked right past you, didn't you see?" Ryan asks curiously.

"No I was... remembering. Where'd they go?"

"Gabi wanted a caramel frappucino so Shar said she would go and get an espresso. They asked you if you wanted anything but you didn't answer."

"I don't drink coffee," I say. Gabi knew that. "I thought Gabs only liked tea?"

"She's like frozen drinks too."

I nod, sighing sadly and glancing around her room at the pictures. I frown at one of them, my eyes filling with tears because I once again felt replaced... but not only in Gabriella's life. Shaking my head and looking at the picture once again I smile sadly, they all looked so... happy. Gabi, Sharpay and her...

* * *

A/N: Okay so i know some people might be confused, but hopefully that cleared a couple of things up... maybe it just made things worse idk lol. Next chapter should be up soon, but my laptop adapter broke so it might be a while... P.S. did anyone see the track list for HSM 3? and does anyone know if there official?


	7. Not Our Problem Anymore

**Chapter 5- Not Our Problem Anymore… It's Their's.**

It's been two months since Gabriella returned to East High that makes it the end of October, around the same time she left last year. It's odd to see her walking around school again, all dressed up, with Sharpay, Taylor and Ryan by her side. The kids in school are having a hard time understanding how Gabriella once, no matter how short a time, the queen of East High can be friends with the life long Ice Queen of East High. Even though, since Gabriella came back Sharpay has been… relatively nice, that doesn't mean she's still not a bitch.

"Troy!" Chad calls breaking me from my thoughts as he walks into the gym.

"Hey Chad."

"One on one?" he questions

I shrug, "I'm not much better then I was two months ago," I say bitterly.

He sighs, "You're getting there."

I check the ball to him and defend as he tries to make his way around me.

"What were you doing earlier?" he asks quietly as he concentrates hard on getting around me.

"Just thinking," I say offhandedly.

"About Montez?"

I steal the ball away from him as he goes to do a jump shot, "What else is anyone thinking about these days?"

"Kelsi's been hanging out with them after school sometimes," He says buying my fake right.

"What have you been spying on them?" I ask taking a shot and hearing the rare swish.

He rolls his eyes and checks the ball back to me, "No but I do live across the street, it's hard to miss the cars that are in her driveway. And the cars that aren't…" he trails off as he pushes past me to do a lay up.

"What do you mean?" I ask curiously as I retrieve the ball when it comes through the hoop.

"Her mom still isn't home. Jared pointed it out the other night at dinner."

Jared was Chad's older brother, "Oh? I wonder what's up with that. I mean I knew her mom went on a tone of business trips, but you would think that she would want to help out with the move and stuff…" I say shooting the ball only to have it bounce off the rim.

I groan and Chad pats me on the back, "Dude let's not worry about it. It's her problem."

Nodding I pick up the basketball and walk with Chad to the gym doors, "You're right. It's not our problem anymore."

**End Troy's POV

* * *

**

**Ryan's POV**

"Hey Gabs," I exclaim coming into the music room.

"Hey Ry," she says quietly, touching the keys of the piano.

"No lunch today?" I ask.

"No Shar and Tay?" she asks avoiding my question.

"They were late for class, so they sent me to come looking for you."

"Oh, usually they come looking during lunch."

"Gabs, why weren't you in lunch today?"

She sighs, "My mom called."

I nod, "And…"

"She's not sure if me not being in court, and them not knowing what really went down is going to hold much longer."

"Not even until November when you turn 18?" I ask softly sitting down beside her on the piano bench.

She shakes her head, "She's not sure. She says right now they have so many unanswered questions that they may just say it's not worth it to wait. I don't think, her or my lawyer, could so anything if they decide that," she finishes sadly.

I sigh, pulling her closer to me with one arm, "Everything will go as planned Gabi. I promise."

"You can't promise me something like that Ry, no matter how much I wish you could…" she sighs, "Just because you want it to happen doesn't mean it will."

I nod slightly as she rest her head on my shoulder, "What did my dad say?"

"He said pretty much the same thing. Oh, I'm staying with you guys next week when you mom goes up there."

I roll my eyes, "Do they not trust us?"

She giggles, "I don't know. You would think over the last year they would see how responsible we've gotten."

I laugh, "Especially you," I can tell she's blushing y the way she's trying to shield her face in my shoulder, "Apparently they also forgot how we became this big happy family we are today."

She laughs again and looks at me, smiling happily. I grin back at her when I hear her stomach grumble. She blushes and turns away from me.

"Sorry Ry."

I shake my head, "Ella you shouldn't have skipped lunch."

She turns back to me, her eyes sad, "I couldn't really think about eating. I was upset."

"I get it Brie, but starving yourself won't help you," she nods and I stand up extending my hand to her, "Come on little sis lets go get you something to eat."

She smiles and takes my hand before walking in front of me and out the door, letting it slam shut behind her. The slamming of the door transports me back to last year, on that night, early in September.

**Flashback**

"Ducky your father and I are going to the banquet hall for a dinner tonight. Chef Paolo will make you and Shar your dinner…" My mom pause, "Where is your sister?"

I roll my eyes, "She's staying late to work on something with Ms. Darbus."

My mom smiles, "She's just dedicated Ducky."

I nod, smiling at her, "I know mom," my smile fades, "dedicated to hurting Gabriella and getting Troy," I mumble.

"What was that darling?"

"Nothing mom," I say quickly, "Have fun!"

"Alright sweetie. Bye Ducky!"

"Bye son!"

"Bye mom! Bye dad!"

I hear the door close quietly behind them and sigh throwing myself on the couch. The house was eerily quiet as I lay there staring at the ceiling. The grandfather clock chimed and I glanced at it, 5 o'clock. I frown, it shouldn't take Shar 3 hours to… well… she didn't need 3 hours to do… whatever she… does. My thoughts on Sharpay were interrupted when the door suddenly banged open, hitting the wall with a slam. I jump up frantically and rush into the foyer when I hear the familiar shriek.

"RYAN!"

I skidd to a halt in front of her, "What is it! What's wrong!" I finally look up at her, and took a step back in shock. "Sharpay what the hell did you do to her!" I yell rushing forward to help Gabriella.

"I didn't do this!" Sharpay exclaims as I help Gabriella over to the couch, one arm wraped around her waist, the other holding the arm I had thrown around my neck in place.

"Obviously you did something to her!" I exclaim angrily. I sat down next to Gabriella, waving a hand in front of her face. "Look at her Shar!"

I took in Gabi's appearance. Her face was pale and her usually bright eyes we dull. She had a continuous stream of tears falling from her eyes and down her cheeks. To say her hair was in a state of disarray was and understatement. It stuck up every which way and was all frizzy, her normal nice neat curls pulled into tangled messes. Part of her hair was sticking together so I lightly touched her head and pulled back in horror, seeing red on my fingers. Blood. Her shirt was ripped in many different places and hung off her petite frame. Her jeans were covered in what I assumed to be dust and dirt, some of the rips in her jeans, that had once just been small were now all the way down to her feet, which were bare and had several scratches on them.

"Get someone to get a first aid kit," I say harshly to my sister, not once taking my eyes off my friend. I hear her leave and speak softly to Gabriella, "Hey Gabriella. Can you say something for me? You know maybe tell me what Sharpay did?"

There is no answer. She was completely unresponsive and I was getting more worried as time past.

"Marie's bringing the first aid kit," Sharpay says quietly.

I take my eyes away from my friend, "What the hell did you do to her Sharpay," I hiss in a dangerously low voice stepping closer to her.

"I didn't do anything!" she says in a desperate voice, she turns to look at Gabriella before turning back to me, "Will she be okay?" Sharpay whispers.

The concern in her voice causes me to step back. Looking into my sister's eyes I see true concern, true worry and true fear. I'm shocked but it also tells me that she didn't do this to Gabriella, she wouldn't be worried about anyone but herself if she did. I sigh looking over at my catatonic friend who doesn't flinch as all the maids bustle around her, trying to clean her up.

"I don't know Shar. I really don't know."

A small tear slips down her cheek and she tries to wipe it away before I see it, "Oh god." She whispers.

I walk closer to my twin, who's staring at Gabriella and touch her arm slightly but pull back when I feel her jump. "Shar, what happened to her?"

Sharpay takes a deep breath, still staring at Gabriella, "A lot Ry. A lot." She walks away and sits down on the couch next to Gabriella and in a move that surprises me takes Gabriella hand tightly in her own. "Gabi please say something." She sighs when she gets nothing in response and sadly looks down. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

And for the first time since I was 5 years old, I saw Sharpay Evans sob her heart out.

**End Flashback

* * *

**

The door creaks open and a familiar giggle knocks me out of my memory.

"Ryan are you coming or are you just going to stand there?"

I turn toward the door, where Gabriella's head is sticking in and smile slightly, "Sorry, I'm coming."

She smiles at me as I walk toward the door, lightly pushing past her and letting the door close behind us. The force of the door closing allowed a gust of wind to come and blow all the music of the piano. The sheets were spread out all over the floor and an unfamiliar figure stepped out of the shadows a smirk planted on their face. He stepped out more, crinkling the papers underneath his foot as one of them shows a title.

It read, 'Vanished'.

The figures smirk grew and his eyes become brighter, 'Perfect.'

* * *

A/N: Anyone got anything figured out?

I just want to thank everyone for the reviews, it's great to know people like my story!

-Katie G


	8. Not Exactly What He Thought Hear

**Chapter 6- Not Exactly What He Thought He'd Hear.**

**Zeke's POV**

"How can you sit there and stare at her like that? After everything!" Chad exclaims.

Troy snaps his head toward Chad's, "Sorry," he mumbles looking down at his food.

We were all sitting in the lunchroom, talking when I, like Chad, noticed that Troy was staring once again at Gabriella.

Chad groans, "Dude just forget about her!"

"Oh yeah? Like you're forgetting about Taylor?" Troy snaps.

Chad growls and they start arguing as I glance up to where Gabriella and Sharpay are sitting with Taylor, Ryan, Kelsi and several other girls. What surprises me is that some of them are from the cheerleading squad, some of them are from drama club… odd. Gabriella turns away from Sharpay for a moment to talk to Shelly, one of the cheerleaders, and Sharpay glances around before looking away and motioning to someone to come forward. She looks back at Gabriella, making sure she's not looking, as a nerd shuffles over to their table carrying a… cake! Why do they have a cake? Sharpay taps Gabi on the shoulder and she turns around. Her mouth drops open in shock and she smiles brightly, hugging Sharpay tightly. Taylor pulls two small boxes out from her purse; one of them is a box of matches, the other a box of candles. They scatter them all around the cake and light them. I continue watching as everyone at the table talks quietly under their breaths. I watch intently, trying to figure out what they're s… Happy birthday! They're singing Happy Birthday! Oh wow, it's Gabriella's 18th birthday! How could I not have guessed that? I watched them cut the chocolate cake, with Chocolate frosting, and hand out pieces to everyone at the table. They're al eating and talking excitedly when suddenly, I can hear even from where I'm sitting, a series of beeps go off. Everyone turns to look at Gabriella, all at once halting their conversations, and she anxiously bites her lip glancing at her phone and standing up. Sharpay stands to, intent on following Gabriella, but Gabriella waves her off. She rushes down the stairs and out the cafeteria doors. Sharpay watches sadly, sitting down dejectedly when the door closing with a slam behind Gabriella. I glance toward the door, and take one final look at Ryan, who was talking quietly to a depressed Sharpay, before abruptly standing up from my seat. My movements halt Troy and Chad's argument and they turn, startled and watch as I gather my books.

"Zeke, where are you going?" Chad asks.

"It's not important," I say hurriedly as I rush to the door.

I burst through them, and hear them slam shut behind me. I frantically look left and right, trying to figure out which way she could have gone.

"I know mom," I hear an anger voice whisper yell.

My ears perk up and I take several steps to my right.

"But today? It's such short notice!" There's a pause and the person continues angrily, "Of course I want to win!"

My eyebrows fur in confusion, but I continue walking swiftly down the hallway until I reach the end. I glance around the corner and see Gabriella, with her back facing me, talking on the phone.

She sighs, in a resigned sort of way, "Fine, we'll leave after school."

My eyes widen. She's leaving again!

She groans, "Mom I know alright! I want this! I need to do this! I'll be up there by 7 at the latest." She nods, but then realizes her mom can't see her and whispers in a quiet voice, "Okay."

If I had any idea, of what this conversation would reveal to me, I would have brought others with me… or maybe I wouldn't have listened. But I did and what I heard next shocked me more then anything.

"Mom, we need to get a story figured out… if you don't want them knowing…" she whispers the last part so quietly that I almost didn't hear her… I did though. And it changed everything.

Oh. My. God.

**End of the Day**

I burst through the door of my English class just as the last bell rang. I stopped only once, to throw my stuff in my locker, before striding purposely out the front door. My eyes skimmed the parking lot, look for the car I wanted to see, when I suddenly spotted a pink convertible speeding by me, the girl I was looking for in the passenger seat. Without a second though I took off after it, sprinting the whole way to the Montez house. I didn't stop running until I reached the front door of her house. I was breathing heavily, so I bent over, placing my hands on my knees in an effort to regain my breath. I weakly reached a hand out to repeatedly press the doorbell.

"Alright, Alright I'm coming keep your clothes on!" her impatient voice calls from inside.

The door opens and I'm faced with a surprised Gabriella and an equally surprised Sharpay standing behind her.

"Zeke, wh…" Gabi starts, but I cut her off.

"I – I know," I say still breathing heavily. I take one final deep breath and stand up straight, still slightly breathless but as I say this, I say it definitely, looking directly into her eyes, "I know why you left last year."

* * *

A/N: Okay I know this is very very very short… but then next chapter will be long, and we will finally find out one of the things Gabriella has been hiding!

-Katie G!


	9. Nothing Could Prepare Me For This

**Chapter 7- Nothing Could Prepare Me For This**

**Chad's POV**

It's the middle of December, only about ten days until Christmas, when I see her for the first time in two months. She's walking up the driveway just like she did the last time I saw her at the end of October. I was suddenly filled with anger. Two months ago Gabriella, Taylor, Sharpay and Ryan disappeared. Two months ago, Zeke started acting odd, just like how Gabriella was before she went away the first time. I sigh, shaking me head, why do I care? I scold Troy all the time for still having feelings for Gabriella when what Taylor did was just as bad, and I'm still madly in love with her.

"Chad!" my dad calls from down stairs, "Lunch!"

I take one last glance at the house across the street before walking downstairs to the kitchen. I enter and sit down on the stool, before reaching over and taking one of the subs off the plate. I put it to my mouth and am about to bite into it when I suddenly realize something.

"Dad, where are Mom and Jared?"

He looks up from his plate before looking back down and mumbling something incoherently.

I raise an eyebrow, "Sorry didn't catch that."

He sighs, "Well… They're at Gabriella's."

I drop my sandwich and it falls apart on my plate, "What!?"

He groans and stands up, "Chad…"

I stand up and violently push away from the counter and my stool falls with a crash to the floor, "No dad. She already took my girlfriend, she's not taking my family too!"

I'm out the door and striding across the street before he can stop me. I'm vaguely aware of him calling my name, but I don't stop until I'm banging on the Montez's front door.

"Alright already! Bang down the door why don't you!" someone exclaims as they pull open the door. Sharpay's mouth drops open and she moves so she's covering the door more, "Get lost basketball boy."

I glare at her and roughly push past, walking angrily into the family room. "What the hell…" I freeze staring at the picture in front of me.

"Chad," Zeke says stepping forward. I don't acknowledge him, but continue to stare at them, "Maybe you should sit down."

This… was not at all what I expected to see. Not at all.

**End Chad's POV**

**Gabriella's POV**

I stood next to Mrs. Danforth and Jared staring at Chad in shock as Zeke helped him into the armchair. He sits there staring at us… no one moves and no one says anything.

Jared clears his throat, "Umm... well little bro… I'm sure you're wonde-"

"What the hell is that!" Chad snaps angrily.

Sharpay scoffs and comes to stand next to me, "It's called a baby, Chad." She turns to coo at the baby in Mrs. Danforth's arms, "A beautiful baby girl, yes you are, just like your mommy."

I smile watching as Sharpay interacts with her goddaughter, my daughter.

Chad glares at Sharpay, "I got that Evans. I mean what is it doing here! And why is my mother holding it?"

I glare at Chad, "First of all, "it's" name is Adriana. Second of all… she's my daughter."

Silence follows my revelation as Chad stares open mouthed at me. Suddenly… he burst out laughing. I jump startled and everyone stares at him.

"That's funny," he breaths, "Really whose is she?"

Mrs. Danforth sighs and walks forward, carefully placing Adri in Chad's protesting arms, "Look at this baby." She demands.

Chad stops protesting and sighs looking down at Adriana. His eyes widen and he smiles softly down at Adri before he looks back up at me, "So… did you cheat on Troy?"

I knew he was going to ask me that, I was expecting it, but what I wasn't expecting was no anger to be present in his tone. He didn't sound angry, but sad and disappointed. I flinched, maybe anger would have been easier to handle. I walk over and sit on the arm of the chair, looking down at my baby girl in Chad's arms a small smile comes to my face. Her beautiful raven colored hair, which was slightly curled in the back, matched mine perfectly. Her barely open eyes showed the same chocolate color as mine. She had my skin tone, my cute button nose, my lips… everything. She was an exact replica of me.

"No," I whisper, "I didn't cheat on Troy."

I can feel him staring at me, studying me intently, as I gaze down at her.

"Okay… I believe you," he whispers back.

I smile slightly still watching as Adri stretches slightly, trying to get more comfortable, "Thank you."

He nods, "She's beautiful… she looks so much like you. How old is she?"

"8 months."

He nods and looks down at her before looking up at Sharpay, Taylor and Ryan. "You guys knew?" They nod, "You should have told me," he mumbles before turning to Zeke. "What about you?"

Zeke shrugs, "I just found out in October."

Chad turns to his mom and Jared, "We just found out when she came back in August," Jared answers.

Chad continues to grumble under his breath before turning back to me, "Adriana, has she been here since August?"

I shake my head, "No… there was a trail…"

Chad looks at me confused, "Trial?"

I nod, gently taking my sleeping daughter from Chad, "A lot's happened that you don't know about Chad."

He stands up and walks over to me as I place Adri in her crib, "Well then tell me Gabs… I want – no I need to know everything."

I sigh, he sounds so desperate, like he needs to understand, so I look up at him with slightly watery eyes, "Chad… if I tell you, you can't tell anyone… even Troy. He remains in the dark about this."

He stares at me for a minute before nodding, "Okay."

I take a deep breath and sit on the couch, patting the spot next to me and allowing Chad to sit there, "It all started the Friday on the first full week of school (say school started on a Wednesday, so this happened next Friday not the one during the first week… make sense?)and you guys had your basketball workout."

Chad nods, "Yu and Tay were supposed to meet us after."

I nod, "We were staying after to help in Calculus."

**Flashback**

"Tay go ahead, tell the guys I'll meet you at the diner," I insisted as I began packing my stuff up.

"You sure? I can wait…" Taylor says.

I nod, "Yeah, I need to stop and see Ms. Darbus about the Drama homework anyways."

Taylor shrugs as she walks out the door, "Alright see you soon."

I waited until she was out of the room before abruptly turning on the spot, and scanning the room. I'd felt it again. Since the first day of school, I would walk in and have the immediate feeling that I was being watched. It was such an intense feeling that it gave me chills and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I shivered suddenly when I realized I was the only one left in the room. I quickly grabbed my bag before rushing out the door and breathing a sigh of relief as I walk to the theater. Since Troy and I weren't in the musical this year, Ms. Darbus had confronted me and asked if in my spare time I could do a voice lesson with her, to help some of the younger kids. I told her I'd check my schedule and get back to her… this year Taylor had scheduled so many decathlon practices that I hardly have time to breath… but I managed to find some time. I open the doors to the theater and watch Sharpay once again yell at Ryan.

"Ryan! How many times do I have to tell you! It's kick-step-step-twist not kick-step-twist-step!"

Ryan opens his mouth to retort but instead sees me and smiles, "Gabi!"

I smile and wave at him as I walk toward Ms. Darbus, "Hey Ry."

"Ms. Montez, how are you?"

I smile politely at the older women, "I'm good Ms. Darbus, how are you?"

"Good good, did you find an appropriate day to help teach?"

I glance at Ryan on stage who had stopped what he was doing and was staring at me curiously, "Teach?"

I ignore him and nod to Ms. Darbus, "Yeah… is Tuesday and Thursday after school okay for you? If we need to I'm free Saturday afternoon as well."

She nods, "That's perfect Ms. Montez. I will write up a schedule and get it to you at the earliest time. See you in homeroom on Monday."

I give her one last smile, look one more time at the blonde twins on stage and walk out of the theater. I sigh and walk out toward the parking lot. I'm looking through my large purse for my keys when I shiver suddenly. I stop, but don't look up from my purse. Cautiously I look to my left and shiver again when I see I had stopped in front of my Calculus classroom. I sigh and turn back to my purse, only to groan in frustration when I realize my keys aren't in my purse. I turn, about to walk back to the theater, when a slight sparkle catches my eye. I freeze and throw my head back, groaning to myself again, my keys are of course on the floor of my creepy calculus room. I walk into the room, glancing around as I feel the familiar prickling on the back of my neck. I bite my bottom lip and bend down to pick them up. Suddenly, there's a hand over my mouth and an arm around my waist. I freeze.

"Don't scream," the man whispers in my ear.

I start struggling against them, kicking my legs, flailing my arms but the persons carries me almost effortlessly, toward the back of the classroom where the supply closet is. I remember the keys I hold tightly in my hand and without a second thought stab them into the man's arm around me waist. He screams in pain and his arm loosens, allowing me to break free. I make a mad dash for the door but he's too quick for me. He grabs me again around the waist and drags me back into the closet, slamming the door closed with his foot and throwing me so that I slammed into the back wall. I groan in pain and slide down the wall.

"You're going to pay for that." He grumbles right before he slaps me.

I cry out as the force of the slap causes my face to scrap against the wall. He lifts me up by my arms and smirks, leaning in.

"We're going to have some fun Ms. Montez."

He pushes me violently against the wall and forces his mouth on mine. I gag at the feel of his dry, cracked lips moving roughly against mine. I try to push him off me but it does no good. I feel tears streaming down my face as his hands begin to brutally grope my body. I claw viscously at his arm and he pulls his lips from mine to slap me once again. The side of my face, again, comes in contact with the wall and he uses this opportunity to kiss my neck. He smirks against my skin as I whimper for him to stop. I try desperately to move my head away but he's to strong. I cry out again when he bites down on my neck. I'm trying to hold in my sobs and push him away but he continues to kiss and bite my neck before moving down to my collarbone, then he looks up at me a smirk planted on his face.

"Please," I whimper shaking my head, "Please stop."

He laughs darkly, "You want this Gabriella. You've wanted this since you first met me."

He kisses me again, forcing my mouth open as I gag again. He begins clawing at my shirt, stretching it and ripping it. I'm still fighting, desperately trying to push him away. He finally pulls my shirt over my head and immediately his hands squeeze my chest. I scream out in pain, still sobbing uncontrollably as he rips off my bra and begins to kiss the newly exposed flesh. Still kissing me, he pulls me away from the wall and slams me to the floor. As my head hits the concrete the last thing I remember was the feeling of my jeans being slid down my legs.

I don't know how much later I woke up… broken, naked, sore, bruised, scratched on the floor of the supply closet, the door wide open. I groaned and grabbed my clothes attempting to put them on through my tears. I could barely move so I slowly crawled to the door, and into the classroom. Still sobbing I used all my strength to reach up and twist the doorknob that will lead me to the hallway; I was desperate to get out of this room. The door opens suddenly and I whimper, trying to scramble away.

"Gabriella!

"You weren't kidding Ms. Evans."

Sharpay?

"She was worse when I first found her," I hear Sharpay say concerned.

"Lets call 911."

"Noooo…" I whimper.

"Gabriella, okay, I need you to calm down and take deep breaths."

I continue to sob, "No hospitals!"

"She needs a doctor and the police."

"Nooo!" I wail.

"Ms. Darbus, I'll take her to my house… our in house doctor can help her, tell the police to come to me house."

"Alright."

**End Flashback**

I sigh, wiping the tears that had fell, "That's really all I remember until about 2 hours later when I snapped out of it and begged Sharpay not to call the cops."

Chad sits there staring at me, "Oh my god." He whispers.

I nod, "So you can see how that would change me," I say softly.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asks pulling me into a brotherly hug.

"I was scared. I didn't know what you guys would think of me."

"Brie…" he starts.

"I know, I was being stupid but I wasn't thinking straight."

"Why didn't you tell the cops?"

"She was ashamed," Sharpay whispers, "I keep trying to tell her it wasn't her fault and that she did nothing to deserve it, but she wouldn't listen to me."

I nod, "Then one day, about a month later, 3 weeks before I left… I started getting really sick. Sharpay kept telling me that I should have gone to the doctors but… I was scared." I shake my head looking down, "One day before school I went to the store…"

**Flashback**

I pulled my hood further down over my face as I gazed down the aisle, spotting immediately what I needed to buy. I grabbed three pregnancy tests and rushed to the counter, throwing the boxes on it. The cashier raises an eyebrow and scanned them.

"Anything else?" I shake my head, "Your total comes to 6.14"

I threw a ten-dollar bill on the counter, grabbed my bag and ran out the door.

"Hey you forgot your change!"

I wave a dismissive hand over my shoulder and run as fast as I can to my house. I take a deep breath and open the door. I run up to my room, locking the door behind me, I take out all three tests and stare at them.

"You can do this Gabriella. You're a big girl, so go in the bathroom and pee on these sticks!"

I march into the bathroom and walk out a minute later, nervously biting my lip and staring at the timer on my cell phone. What was I going to do if this test came back positive? No one knew what really happened except for Sharpay, Ryan and Ms. Darbus… would anyone else believe me? Or would they all think I had cheated on Troy? Stop that, I scold myself, you didn't want this and jut like Shar told you, you have nothing to be guilty about. The beeping of my cell phone attracts my attention to the fact that it was time. I bite my lip again, and stand up, walking to the thing that would make my life crash down around me or allow me to finally settle on the long road to recovery. I take a sloe, deep breath and look down at the line of three sticks on the counter.

Positive.

**End Flashback**

Chad sighs and lovingly rubs his hand up and down my arm for comfort.

"She was born on May 25th at 12:02 AM." I say.

Chad seems hesitant for a moment before he looks at me directly, "Can you tell me about it?" at my confused look he continues, "About the pregnancy, about the labor… about the trail?" he says the last part in a confused voice.

I smile slightly and nod my head… today was going to be a long day.

* * *

A/N: Okay I realize that in real life a teacher would report this happening, but for the sake of this fic… she didn't.

So we know Gabi's secret…. And I'm sorry it took this long.  
I was thinking off doing some big dramatic unvailing... but i kind of liked this way... idk.

-Katie g!


	10. The Two A's

**Chapter 8- The Two A's**

Chad's POV

I watched as Gabriella smiled slightly while feeding her daughter. Wow, daughter. I don't think I would have ever believed this if I hadn't seen for myself how much Adri looked like Gabriella. I can't believe that Gabriella was raped. My Gabriella – Troy's Gabriella…Troy. How was I supposed to not tell my best friend that the love of his life was raped, had a baby and left because she had a fear we would shun her. I sigh; I knew the thing she wasn't saying was that she was scared of what Troy would think. Especially after this summer, Gabriella had taken to hanging out with more guys. Not just our friends, but also other workers at the club. I also knew, being the interested "big brother" I am, she had gotten extremely close with one guy. I may not have been happy with Troy, I was close to hating him, not only because I was holding a grudge against him – really I could deal with him treating me like crap – but because of what a jerk he was being to Gabi, but it was still weird to see her with other guys while she was still with Troy. I know she felt awkward around some guys, especially after what happened with Jake.

**Flashback**

I slumped with a huff into one of the stools.

"Chad, I'm sure he just…"Taylor starts, sitting next to me.

"Tay don't try and defend him, Gabriella is upset enough and him not coming just makes everything she's feeling worse.

Taylor gives me a small smile and sighs, "Where is Gabi anyways?" she asks as she looks toward the pool, where Gabi would normally be sitting in the lifeguard spot was filled with Robby, Gabi's replacement.

"Probably with Jake," I grumble.

Taylor glares at me, "Troy's ignoring her, you can't be mad at her for talking to a guy whose listening to her."

I growl, "It's not that I just don't like the guy."

Taylor favors me again with a small smile, "He seems nice enough, and he knows she's with Troy, he wouldn't try anything."

The door slams shut and we both turn to see a shaky and slightly pale Gabriella come through to the kitchen. "I am a horrible person," she says as she falls to her knees.

Taylor gasps and we both rush forward. Each of us takes an arm each and helps her to a stool. The rest of the kitchen crowds around her, making her shake more violently.

"Give her space," I order, glaring at everyone.

Everyone turns away, but it's obvious they're all still watching and listening, as Taylor places a hand on Gabi's arm.

"Brie, what happened?" she asks quietly.

"He kissed me," she mumbles.

Taylor's eyes widen and she turns to look at me, but I can only give her a confused look back.

"Who kissed you Gabs?"

"He kissed me," she says again. Then she looks frantically to me, "Oh god, Chad please don't tell Troy! It wasn't supposed to happen! Jake wasn't supposed to kiss me!"

"Jake kissed you!" Taylor exclaims.

"He knows she's with Troy." I mimic her under my breath, glaring at her.

She glares back at me as Gabi nods, still looking at me pleadingly, "Yes! But Chad really, I didn't want to cheat on Troy, please don't say anything."

I smile softly at her, in an attempt to calm her down, "Hey Elle as far as I'm concerned we're not having this conversation."

**End Flashback**

I could see how she would think that if anyone found out they would think she had cheated on Troy because that's how she was. But she should have known that I would have listened to her, Troy would have listened to her… maybe.

"Chad," Gabi whispers, walking over to me, "Do you want to finish feeding her?"

I smile, slightly dazed, "Can I? I mean, I wouldn't hurt her or anything would I?"

My mother laughs lightly as Gabi smiles and shakes her head, "No. Here…" she hands Adri to me, carefully, and puts one of my arms under her head, and the other under her butt. Adriana can basically hold her bottle by herself, "Just like that Chad."

I glance at Gabriella uneasily, "Brie are you sure?"

She nods as I look down to see Adri open here eyes. Adriana stares back at me with her chocolate brown eyes and I see a sudden small smile come to her face. She pulls the bottle out of her mouth, letting it drop on her tummy, and lets out a small giggle before reaching up and grasping a piece of my hair. Everyone aww's as she continues giggling and tugging on my hair.

Gabriella giggles, one very similar to Adri's, and gently removes Adriana's hand from my hair as she says, "I think she likes you Uncle Chad."

"Uncle?" I whisper smiling down at her.

"You didn't think that now that you know about her I was just going to let you disappear from her life… did you? You're a permanent fixture now Chad… only if you wanna be." She adds quickly.

I smile up at Gabi and nod, "I want… but I also want you to finish explaining."

She nods and takes Adri from me, "Shar will you take her outside for me? The swing set should entertain her for a while."

Sharpay nods, "Come on Dri, Auntie Sharpay is going to take you outside," she says as she takes Adri out of the room.

All of us watch until she's gone from view, at which point Gabriella sits down next to me on the couch and takes a deep breath.

"I should probably start first with when I told my mom I was pregnant," she looks at me, "I won't stop in between explanations."

I nod and listen to Gabriella's story.

**Flashback- Gabriella's POV**

It had been one month since I had been… raped. I've been spending almost everyday with the Evans' and at first, my mom was skeptical, about Sharpay, because of what happened over the summer. But she must have noticed the difference in me when I was around the Evans. When I was with any of them, mostly Shar, I was almost normal… compared to the zombie that was waking around otherwise. We started having dinner with them almost every night and my mom and Lisa started getting as close as Shar and I were. The day I found out I was pregnant, we decided to tell them that night at dinner. (Mr. and Mrs. Evans know that Gabi was raped, her mom doesn't… she told them that her mom knew).

We were eating dinner, Sharpay and I were being unusually quiet, and I know everyone noticed.

"Sharpay, Gabriella are you girls alright?" Mr. Evans asked.

I glance at Sharpay and she gives me an encouraging nod, while taking my hand in hers.

I take a deep breath, "There's something I need to tell all of you… Mom two things I need to tell you." They all look at me curiously but nod, "Mom about a month ago, I was – I was…"

My mother holds up one of her hands, "I know you were raped sweetie."

Sharpay and I both flinch at the word, "How did you find out Mom?"

"Lisa told me. She thought I knew and wanted to see hoe I was doing with it," she pauses and looks at me through watery eyes, "Why didn't you tell me Hija?"

I look down at my lap and Sharpay squeezes my hand, "I'm ashamed Mamí, it's my fault this happened… I feel – dirty. I can't talk about, then everything I've blocked out in the back of my mind comes forward, and it's impossible for me to forget. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I just – couldn't."

My mother sighs and pushes her chair back to come and hug me, "It's okay Brie," she says as I cry into her chest, "I'm going to help you through this."

"There's something else," I whimper into her chest.

She pulls back to look at me, "What is it Ella?"

"I'm pregnant."

**End Flashback- Still Gabi's POV**

I shake my head, "They took me to see a doctor, and after that the police. But because I refused to say anything on the subject, they couldn't press charges. After we found out that I was definitely pregnant, my mom wanted me to get an abortion." Chad gasps, but I continue, "I down right refused, but agreed with her that I would go to San Diego and have the baby. At the time I didn't know why she wanted me to go there, but now…" I shake my head again, "anyways, she was born, like I said on May 25th at 12:02 PM."

**Flashback- Wednesday May 25th at 6:45 AM**

"So Elle, how do you feel?" Sharpay asked me, we were talking on the phone while she was getting ready for school.

"Terrible," I grumble, I was a week late, "My back hurt, my feet are swollen and I'm bored out of my freaking mind."

"Still on bed rest?" she asks sympathetically.

I groan, "Yes!"

She giggles, "Well Elle at least you have time to do all that homework you're missing… I know that's a plus for you."

I shrug and nod my head, "How is everything there?" I ask quietly.

"We're not talking about East High, we're talking about me pregnant best friend."

I grumble, "How come whenever I ask you questions…" I stop and take a sharp breath, "Ow!"

"Shit, Gabs what's wrong?" Sharpay asks frantically.

"Pay," I groan as a searing pain rips through my body.

I hear a rustling on the other end, "Call for your mom Brie."

I groan as my body aches, "Mom!' I scream as loud as I can.

She comes rushing in, "Gabi what's wrong?"

I let out a strangled cry, "It hurts."

"I'm taking you to the hospital," she says grabbing my hospital bag and helping me off the couch.

"I'll be there soon Brie." Sharpay says before she hangs up and I let the phone drop to the floor.

We get to he hospital in record time, by now my water has already broke and the contractions are unbearable.

"You're contractions are coming 20 minutes apart and lasting for about 3 minutes," the doctor says, "The bad thing is you're only 4 cm. dilated."

I groan, "Can't you give me something?"

"I'm sorry," she says shaking her head, "But you said you didn't want drugs."

"I changed my mind," I snap, "Drug me up."

The doctor bites her lip, "Gabriella, with your young age it's not recommended."

I groan again and squeeze my eyes tightly shut as my 3rd contraction comes, "Please," I beg breathlessly.

"Deep breaths, Gabriella, you can do it!" she says encouragingly.

"Where's my mom?" I moan.

"I'm right here," she says running to me, she's out of breath, "I had to finish your paperwork and then make a quick phone call."

"Is Shar here yet?" I ask desperately as my contraction subsides.

My mom smiles softly and gently seeps my hair out of my face, "Hunny you just got off the phone with her 40 minutes ago I highly dou-"

The door bands open and a frantic Sharpay runs in, "I'm here, what'd I miss?"

"Shar!" I exclaim, visibly brightening.

Sharpay runs over to me just as an out of breath Vance, Lisa, and Ryan run into the room. "Oh god, Brie are you okay?'

"It hurts," I groan.

"Shhh…" she says as she hugs me tightly, "Can't you give her something," she snaps.

"She didn't want drugs," my mom states as she hugs Vance.

Sharpay pulls back and looks at me incredulously, "Are you insane!" she exclaims.

"It could hurt the baby," I say, wincing slightly as I shift. I give Ryan a grateful smile when he adjusts my pillow before giving me a hug.

"Did the doctor come in yet?" he asks.

I nod, "My contractions are twenty minutes apart, they last for about 3 minutes and I'm only 4 cm. dilated." I say as Vance and Lisa hug me.

"You're doing great sweetie," Lisa whispers.

"I've only been in labor for 50 minutes and I've already demanded drugs." I say with a small laugh, "How did you guys get here so fast?" I ask.

"The jet," all four answer in unison.

"But didn't you have to pack?"

"We already had everything, Shar woke us up, we grabbed our bags, hopped on the jet, changed into clothes, then took the limo here." Ryan says.

"Thank you for coming guys, you don't know how much this means to me." I say slightly teary eyed.

"There's no where else I'd rather be right now Brie," Sharpay says also teary.

"What about – oww – Tay?" I ask as another contraction comes.

Sharpay grabs my hand, "Squeeze," she demands and I nod, clasping her own hand tightly in mine, "I called her from the jet, tomorrow's the earliest she can get out here."

I nod, trying to regulate my breathing, "I didn't mean for you guys to miss school."

Ryan waves a dismissive hand, "That's alright we were planning on missing a month anyways after you gave birth."

"You're staying?" I ask as I fall against the pillows after my contraction.

"Sharpay wants to help out," Lisa says.

Sharpay smiles, "I want to be here, I would stay longer, but I can't miss finals. Oh by the way," she adds, "Ms. Darbus sends her best and says she wants pictures."

I laugh and pull my hair into a messy bun, "I'll send some back with you."

**5 hours later.**

"Okay Gabriella, Push!"

"Ahhhhh!" I cry pushing with all my might.

"Come on Brie, you can do it," Sharpay says. (Only one person could stay and she chose Sharpay)

"2, 1," the doctor counts down, "Good Gabriella, next contraction I want you to try and push even harder."

I look at Sharpay as she dabs my forehead with a sponge, wiping away a thin layer of sweat, "I don't think I can do this."

"yes you can Brie! You've come this far, you're strong…"

"Ah…" I cry as I feel another contraction.

"Push Gabriella!" I push with all my might, Sharpay's encouraging yells helping me, "I see a head! One last big push Gabriella!"

"One left Brie! You got it!" Sharpay says as she holds one of my hands in both of hers.

I give one last push and a cry fills he room.

"It's a girl!" The doctor cries.

I look at Sharpay with tears in my eyes, as the doctors and nurses take the baby to clean her off, "Pay, it's a girl."

Sharpay nods, crying as well, and brushing hair off my forehead, "You have a girl."

The nurse carries her over to me, "Would you like to hold her?"

I nod enthusiastically as the nurse gently hands my daughter to me. I look down at her still slightly read face. She has my nose and my mouth, very little hair.

"She's beautiful," Sharpay whispers as I stroke my daughter's cheek.

I nod, not taking my eyes off the beautiful baby, "Yeah, she is," I whisper smiling softly.

We're still sitting like that when everyone walks in to the room. They take pictures of all of us… it's about an hour after she's born when I notice my mother's missing.

"I still can't believe how tiny she is," Ryan says as he hands her back to me.

I smile, "Me either. I can't understand why I was the size of a whale, for something so tiny."

"Did you name her yet?" Vance asks.

I nod, smiling, "Adriana Elise Ryanne Theresa Montez."

"You named her after us?"

I nod, smiling at the two of them, "Will you guys do me the honor of being god parents?"

"You don't have a say in that," an angry voice says from the doorway.

I look up to see an unfamiliar tall red headed women with a tall blonde haired man, standing behind her… and three men dress in black suits. My mother stands next to them, looking regretful.

"Excuse me?" I ask, looking between the women and my mother, "Mom what is she talking about?"

My mom rushes forward, "Sweetie, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" I say confused.

Before she can answer, one of them men steps forward and take Adri out of my arms. She starts to cry as I protest, but he hands her to the red headed women who immediately tries to calm her down, and fails.

"What are you doing with my baby!" I scream, trying to get out of bed.

My mother and Ryan hold me back and Sharpay walks over to get Adri, the women speaks up, sneering at me, "She's not your daughter anymore, you gave her up for adoption."

Everyone in the room freezes. "A – a – adoption?" I stutter out.

She nods, "You gave her away, you can't just change your mind."

"I already told you," my mother snaps, "Gabriella never agreed to this. She hasn't signed yet."

"Mom," I whisper tears falling from my eyes, "What's going on."

"I'm sorry Gabriella, so sorry," she whispers turning to me, "I knew you weren't going to get an abortion, but I didn't want you to have Adriana, I thought she would remind you of what happened, or that you wouldn't be able to go to the college you wanted… so I put her up for adoption."

"You did what!' I screech over Adriana's cries.

"I'm sorry," she says, "I just wanted what's best for you! But then I saw how you were looking at Adri and I knew I'd made a mistake."

"How could you!" I yell at her, I turn to the people in my doorway, "Give me my daughter back." I demand.

The men and woman shake their heads, "Sorry," one of them says, "You gave the child up for adoption."

"But – I," I start.

"No," the woman sneers at me again, "She's my daughter now and you're not getting her back."

She walks out the room, all the men following as I cry for my daughter, who was still crying from when she was taken out of my arms.

"Noo!"

**End Flashback**

"Oh my god," Chad whispers, "You're mom gave Adri up for adoption, without you knowing?"

I nod, wiping several tears from my eyes, "it was the worst thing in the world to hear her crying as they took her out of my arms."

"Is that even legal?" Chad asks.

I nod, "I was underage… I would have needed her signature anyways, so they figured I knew."

"Is that why Adri wasn't here when you got back in August?" Chad asks, I nod and he looks confused, "How did you get her back?"

I sigh, "About a week later Mr. Evans had called on of the best attorney's around. She came to San Diego from New York. I had to explain everything to her, even the rape, but we also had to explain that we didn't want that brought up. She went to court to get us a court date so that there would be a trail. When she finally got the day it was around the end of June and court started at the beginning of July. It turned out, that because I was underage I couldn't actually be in the courtroom. They were allowed to refer to the many statements I had made, but they had to wait until I turned 18 to actually question me. One of the rules was that Adri wasn't allowed to stay with her adoptive parents, or me so she stayed with a doctor that works for the court. We were both allowed to see her, but because the parents had to be in court I was with her more then they were. The only problem was, with me not in the courtroom they had so many unanswered questions. My mom had sent me back here, to be ready for school and distract me a little. At one point, she even called me and said that she wasn't sure the court would wait any longer, that they might just decide to give Adri to the parents who legally adopted her. But we were lucky, my birthday came and we left that day for San Diego… Me, Shar, Taylor and Ryan, our parents we're already down there and staying in the house that me and my mom owned down there. Zeke found out the day we left, and agreed to help by getting us our homework and sending it to us."

"That's why you were acting all weird," Chad exclaims to Zeke, who nods.

"Anyways, When we got there…"

**Flashback-the day after Gabriella's birthday**

"Guys I don't know if I can do this." I say nervously, standing outside the courtroom.

"Brie, you can!" Taylor insists.

Sharpay and Ryan nod, "Yeah Gabs… just think the quicker you go in there, the quicker you can take Adri home." Ryan says.

I nod, still biting my lip, "Okay."

Sharpay walks forward, linking our arms together, and pushes the doors to the courtroom open. Everyone stops and turns to look at us, in complete silence. I anxiously bite my lip and look too my mother, who gives me a reassuring smile.

"What? Do we look like circus animals to any of you?" Sharpay snaps.

I smile a little at her and she winks back as we walk down the small aisle, which splits the courtroom into two. I walk through the swinging doors, sitting in between my mother and my attorney, then I glance across the room, to the other table where Amy, Adri's "adoptive" mom was glaring at me. I ignored her and turned to the judge. She was a stern looking women; she looked no older than forty, but the thing that stuck out most was her bright blue eyes. In contrast to her hard exterior, they showed emotions; compassion and curiosity.

She glance down at me through the lens of her glasses, which rested on the bridge of her nose, "So… You're Gabriella Montez?"

I nod, "Yes mam."

Her mouth twitches slightly, "I'm Judge Harper, I have been presiding on this case since the beginning and may I say… You have a lot of ground to cover."

I bite my lip and glance and Ms. Miller, my lawyer, who gives me a reassuring smile.

"Ms. Rowan, you may call up your first witness," Judge Harper says, addressing Amy's attorney.

"Your honor, I think it's obvious that I am going to call Ms. Gabriella Montez to the stand."

The judge nods and looks at me, "Ms. Montez."

I shakily stand up and walk to the witness, sitting down on the uncomfortable chair, the bailiff swears me in.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help you god?"

I nod, my right hand placed on the book, "I do."

"Ms. Rowan, you may begin."

Ms. Rowan is a young woman, one who looks as though she's fresh out of college. She's wearing a deep purple suit with a black blouse underneath and black stilettos. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a low ponytail and her bangs sweep in front of her hazel eyes.

"Ms. Montez, I would like you to state your full name to the court."

I raise an eyebrow, "Gabriella Montez."

Several people in the court chuckle, Sharpay tries to stifle her's… resulting in a loud snort. Ms. Rowan glares at me and looks toward Judge Harper.

"Gabriella," Judge Harper says as I turn to her, I could have sworn I saw a small smile on her face.

"Please state you first, middle and last name for the court," Ms. Rowan repeats angrily.

I barely hide my smirk, "Gabriella Elizabeth Carmen Loretta Montez."

"And Ms. Montez, would you please tell the court how old you are?"

"18," I answer with a smile.

Ms. Rowan nods, "And do you know why you're here today?"

I discreetly roll my eyes and give her an 'are you serious' look, "Yes I do."

She gives me a look back, "Do you care to elaborate?"

"I'm here to get custody of my baby girl."

"That you gave up for adoption."

"That my mother put up for adoption without my consent," I correct calmly.

"Why would you mother put her granddaughter up for adoption?"

"Why would you client adopt a child without having my signature? The mother's signature?" I shoot back.

"Answer the question Ms. Montez."

"Do I look like my mother?" I say exasperated, "How am I supposed to know why she thought it was best to put my baby up for adoption."

Ms. Rowan sighs, "Ms. Montez how old were you when you had Jennifer Greene?"

My eyebrows fur in confusion, "I'm sorry who?"

"Your daughter," She answers.

"Excuse me, my daughter's name is Adriana Montez," I snap.

Ms. Rowan rolls her eyes, "How old were you?"

"17."

"Why have you suddenly decided that you want your daughter?"

"First of all," I say angrily, "It's not 'suddenly'" I say mimicking her, "I never wanted to give up my daughter."

"Then why was it possible for Mr. and Mrs. Greene to adopt her?" Ms. Rowan asks smirking.

"Do you like hearing the sound of you own voice?" I ask her rhetorically, "I already told you, my mother put her up for adoption without me knowing."

"Did you forgive your mother?"

I sigh, glancing at my mom, "I didn't at first. But then after a while I did. We're no where near as close as we were… but I'm talking to her again."

"Now, Ms. Montez, where have you been the last four months?"

"Albuquerque, New Mexico." I answer.

"What were you doing there?"

"That was where I lived before I moved out here to San Diego… My mom and I agreed that after I had my baby I would move back to be with my friends. Obviously there was a complication, but I couldn't afford to miss school."

"I see," Ms. Rowan says, "And what types of grades do you normally get during school... what other activities do you do..."

I smile, "I have a 4.0 average, I assume you know that means, I have an almost perfect GPA," I say to Ms. Rowan who motions for me to continue. "I am on the scholastic decathlon team, I'm in the school musicals, I tutor and help with voice classes and I go to watch my friends at their basketball games."

"So you're very busy, hat do you do with your daughter during those times?"

"Well the basketball games and the tutoring and the voice lessons she's with me, for scholastic decathlon my friend Taylor is captain and we have a schedule worked out so that my friend Sharpay can sit in with us and if I'm busy she can either follow my instructions for the decathlon or help Adri... and for the musical again I have permission to bring her in there and spend breaks with her."

"So let's say you win this case, how do you plan on taking care of your daughter during school hours, since it's obvious school is so big to you? Your mother works…"

I smile, she thought she'd have me with that question, "Well, I leave for school at 6:45, my mom doesn't leave for work until 8, before she goes to work I have to options, she will either drop her off at my neighbor's, whose on of my friends, house. His mom doesn't work, so she volunteered to watch Adri some days then other days, my best friends mom, Lisa Evans, said she would come to my house and watch Adri, I also have my other friends mom Taylor McKessie, she works some days but she'll spend her days off with Adri… I have cleared it with my teachers that at lunch, which starts at 12 and goes to 1, I can go to wherever I need to and spend my entire lunch break with Adri... I have a free block after lunch before my next class, so I can really stay until my next class, which isn't until 1:45, then school ends at 3."

Ms. Rowan stares at me, then turns on her heels, "No further questions your honor."

Judge Harper nods, "Ms. Davis, your witness."

My attorney stands up, giving me a smile and starts asking me questions, "Gabriella, how old is Adri?"

"She's 26 weeks old."

"When was the last time you saw your daughter?"

"The beginning of August," I say sadly, "But I get to see her after this!" I say smiling.

Ms. Davis smiles back, nodding, "Do you love your daughter."

"More then anything," I say quietly. "When I looked down at her and saw her beautiful face, her eyes weren't even open yet she just – she's a beautiful baby and everything she does, makes me smile. From the first time I'd held her I've been overcome with this feeling to protect her. She's so sweet, and innocent, it's almost impossible to believe that I created something so… gorgeous."

Ms. Davis smiles, "No further questions your honor."

"You may step down, Ms Montez," Judge Harper says, "Court is adjourned, we will continue tomorrow at noon."

I practically jump out of my seat and through the door where I know my daughter is… this may have been a terrible day, I would probably turn into a terrible week… but I knew as long as I saw Adri I would be okay.

**A month later (remember Gabriella's birthday was the day they left, it's in the middle of December, so that gives them a couple days in between now and the time Chad comes to the door.)**

"Good morning," Judge Harper says, "We're going to start today with you, Ms. Rowan… you may call your final witness."

"I would like to call Ms. Montez to the stand."

I sighed and rolled my eyes, standing up and following the same procedure I had done for the past month.

"Hello Ms. Montez."

"Hello Ms. Rowan," I mumble.

"Just a couple questions for you today Ms. Montez… this one has been bothering me and my client for quite sometime." She paused as though she expected me to interrupt. "Who is your daughters father?"

"Excuse me?" I ask after a moment of silence.

She smirks, "Ms. Montez I know your young but even you know that every child has a mother and a father, it takes two people to make a baby… who is the second in your case."

I glance at my lawyer, to see most everyone on my side in the same state she is, they're shocked. We had thought we could get through a whole trial without a mention.

"Ms. Montez," Judge Harper says, "Answer the question, and keep in mind you're under oath."

I nod, avoiding everyone's eyes and clear my throat, "Umm… I don't know."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know," I say clearer.

"You don't know…" Ms. Rowan says carefully. When I nod she continues, "So you slept with so many guys that you don't know which one if which?"

I shake my head, "No I had a boyfriend."

"So your boyfriend isn't the father?"

I shake my head again, "No."

"Again… Are you that much of a slut that you don't know who the father of you and I quote "sweet, innocent baby girl" is?"

Several gasps are heard around the courtroom but I'm too ashamed, to embarrassed to look up, or to answer her question.

"Ms. Rowan, that is enough!" Judge Harper exclaims.

"I'm sorry your honor," Ms. Rowan says before she turns to me and continues badgering me, "How many men have you slept with Gabriella? Do you even know?" she continues to taunt me with her questions but I don't look up.

"SHE WAS RAPED!" a voice screams out.

My head snaps up and everyone stops, turning to look at my blonde best friend. Sharpay was standing up, tears falling down her face, in between her mother and Ryan. She was breathing heavily and staring back at me with wide eyes.

Ms. Rowan turns to me, staring at me, scrutinizing me, "Is that true, Ms. Montez?"

I turn to look at her, and for the first time look at her directly, "Yes," I whisper.

At my admittance several people pale, Ms. Rowan being one of them. She turns away from me, "No further questions your honor," she mumbles.

After a few more moments of silence, Judge Harper clears her throat, "Very well, Ms. Davis… your witness."

**End Flashback**

I sigh, running a hand through my hair, "Ms. Davis had me explain… everything to the court. In the end they made me press charges and Judge Harper decided to give me custody of Adri, she said even without the rape confession I would have gotten my daughter back… I guess she could see how much I love her," I whisper as Sharpay carries a half sleeping Adri into the room.

"How could you press charges… you don't know who did it," Chad says.

I shrug, carefully avoiding his eyes, "They had me file the rape report, they sent it into the school, but they couldn't do anything else."

Chad nods as Sharpay hands me Adri, "Wow Brie… wow."

I smile slightly at Chad, while rocking the baby in my arms, "I know Chad… I know."

I look down at my daughter, my beautiful Adriana and sing quietly, "_Day is done, gone the sun, from the lake, from the hills, from the sky. All is well, safely rest, god is nigh. Day is done, so rest my child, the sun has set, it's dark outside, so close your eyes sweet child of mine_."


	11. Please Read

I have absolutely nothing to say that can make up for how badly I feel for not updating.

But my writer's block is so bad I can't write _anything_ none of my English stuff is even coming out good! And my journalism teacher has me editing for the newspaper instead of writing because I missed the deadline for one of my pieces because of how bad my writer's block is.

This summer turned out to be a hard one for me, my boyfriend of 1 ½ decided that he wanted to go to college all the way across the country. Without discussing it with me first. I was really upset. Especially since he ended up leaving two days before my birthday. I tried updating after, not much but I did. And I don't actually think it turned out well at all. To top that off, because of a stupid mistake I made I found myself in a really bad situation that is still taking me time to fix, even with the help of my best friend.

So, I am trying so hard to get over this writers block, hoping that it will pull me out of this funk I'm in but I have nothing.

I'm really sorry about this, but I'm going to try. Thank you for all the support, and for those of you who like my stories enough to wait… thank you.

Special thanks to my best friend. She may be my opposite in everyway imaginable but I don't know what I would do without her. I'm going to have a corny moment and say she is the cheese to my macaroni. I love you Nikki and thanks.


	12. Take Time To Realize

**Chapter 11- Take Time To Realize**

**Chad's POV**

It's been two weeks since I found out about Adri. And I'm happy, but stressed, that today is the first day back at school after winter break. Happy because I sent that whole time with my niece and my Gabster, but stressed because while I could avoid Troy over break, it will be impossible to avoid him now. But I know that he won't take it to well when I start hanging around with her and everyone at school – which is why we decided it would be best if we pretended nothing ever happened. That would be hard, because no matter how angry I was at Gabs when she first came back I still cared about her, still loved her like the little sister she is to me, and now that I know the really reasons, now that I'm not disappointed that she couldn't trust me, I don't want to avoid her – act like I think she's not there. But I'll do it. Because I know that it will help Gabi relax more, get back to her original self so that I can maybe convince her to tell Troy the truth. Of course… that doesn't mean I can convince Troy to believe it.

"Chad!"

I turn, expecting Troy. But instead my eyes widen slightly when in front of me is a heavily breathing Sharpay Evans.

"Sharpay," I say through slightly clenched teeth as I smile at her, "What are you doing?"

I was angry; we had agreed not to acknowledge each other.

She rolls her eyes, as though hearing my thoughts; "Gabs wanted me to tell you that you can come home with her during lunch. She wants you to spend time with Adri while she works on her bedroom."

I smiled widely, no longer feel hostel, "Let her know that I would love to."

Sharpay nods, giving me a hesitant smile back and walking toward the school.

I glance around, noticing that the couple people were glancing at us, eyebrows raised. It was no secret that I hated Sharpay… or as I call her "Ice Queen". And while I still don't totally trust her, I can see that she loves Gabi more then even Taylor does. They connect on such a deep level that I don't even see where one starts and the other ends. I can see that she loves Adrianna with just as much intensity. I want t try and get to know her… so with that thought in my head I chase after her, slowing to her pace when I get next to her.

"Was it hard?" I ask her quietly, surveying her.

She keeps walking, staying the same pace, but turns her head to quickly glance at me and eyebrow raised in question, "Was what hard?"

I sigh, pulling on one of the curls from my afro, "Seeing Gabi so…" I stopped, trying to think of a word.

"Dead?" she asked in a quiet whisper, looking away from me and slowing her pace.

I became aware of the small amount of onlookers but pain them no mind, "It was that bad? Really?"

Sharpay nods, "You noticed." She states, "I know you did," she hesitates turning to me so I can see her bite her lip, "But you don't know the extent of it. And when she explains it to everyone she skips over the worst."

I nod and answer her quietly, "I kinda got that when I watched her fidget."

Sharpay stops and sighs, running a hand through her blonde hair. She glances around, almost nervously and looks at me seriously, "Don't believe her Chad."

I'm taken back, "Huh?"

She takes a step closer to me, but she looks so serious that I take a step back, "She knows who did this to her. She knows who rapes her. I know her inside and out and I can tell that she knows. I think I know too – but I'm not going to accuse someone if I'm not sure. No mater how much I want to see someone get put in jail for this."

I stare at her, "She knows." I whisper stunned.

Sharpay nods, uneasily eyeing the doors that allow you into school, "Please," she whispers suddenly desperate, "Don't say anything."

She finally turns back to look at me, her gaze dead, like Gabriella's eyes had been. But I knew the difference, Sharpay was worried and scared – something wasn't right.

"Hey guys!" a chirpy voice says from beside us.

Sharpay jumps and I whirl around looking into the bright brown eyes of my little sister. I laugh uneasily, rubbing the back of my neck as Sharpay giggles nervously.

"Um uh … yeah, Gab I thought you are Ry were stopping at Starbucks to get us coffee?"

Gabriella glances between us a smirk on her lips and an eyebrow raised, "We did," she smiles wider, "But then Ryan saw this chick that he thought was cute and dropped our drinks all over him and the floor." She giggled quietly as I held in my laughter, "He dropped me off and went home to change, I just have to tell Darbus that he's running late."

Sharpay let out a boisterous laugh, one that you could tell was eerily ecstatic and smiled brightly, "Well we are drawing attention, and I do believe it is time for us to separate."

And with that she linked arms with Gabriella and walked off. I took the time to glance around and saw several people staring at me wide eyed. I sighed but walked toward my locker.

So Gabriella knows who raped her, but she's defending them? Why would she do that? I couldn't place it, but for some reason when Sharpay was talking to me, I had a feeling that I too knew who it was. But I couldn't put a finger on it. I felt like I was missing a big part of her story, like there was a blank between when she was raped and the beginning of school.

"Chad!" I turned to see Troy running down the hallway toward me, he was panting slightly but he raised his hand for a high five, "Dude you avoiding me?"

I smiled nervously, and slapped his hand, "No why do you ask?"

He shrugs, "This is the first time I've seen you since the last day of school."

We heard a quiet giggle and turned to look down the hallway where Zeke was covering Gabi's eyes with his hands. She turned around to face him and smiles brightly, jumping up to hug him. He laughed and turned to Sharpay, hugging her gently, which she returned. I watched them all, as Taylor came to join, smiling slightly at their interactions and wishing that I could be standing there with them. I glanced at Troy to see he was angry.

"Ugh," he says in disgust, "I can't believe Zeke."

Ah, he wasn't angry with Gabi. He was angry that Zeke got to be with them and he couldn't.

I tentatively put a hand on his shoulder and lead him into homeroom, "Dude chill."

He smiled grimly, not taking his eyes off Gabs figure as he spoke quietly, "Sometimes…. I wonder why I miss her." I stopped breathing, listening intently to his whispers, "But then I see her, and all I want to do is run over and kiss her."

I flinched slightly; I wasn't exactly sure how well Gabs would take that. I knew he was waiting for me to say something, even though he wasn't looking at me. But there was nothing I could say anymore, because I wanted to be over there with them, because I knew that Gab wasn't being a bitch. Because I knew. Just like Gabriella knew who her rapist was – I was keeping this from Troy, maybe even for the same reason that Gab was keeping this from everyone else… to protect them. We followed quietly behind them, almost involuntarily, trailing after them like helpless dogs. I watched in a detached way as they all laughed together, seemingly unaware of the attention they were drawing, appearing as carefree as ever.

I watched intently as Gabriella suddenly flinched. My eyes zoned in on her body, it was shaking – so unnoticeably that you wouldn't have seen it if you hadn't been looking at her when she flinched. I looked around, trying to find a cause and realized she was passing her Calculus room, the one where it happened. It was sudden and bowled me over like the winds of a hurricane, the light bulb affect when you finally figure something out.

It hit me so hard that I stopped in my tracks. My realization.

**Gabriella's POV**

I was sighing, running a hand frustrate through my hair. Where the hell was Chad? All I wanted to do was get home and spend some of my time with Adri. I groaned and stamped one of my feet, leaning against my black Lexus SUV, I may kill Chad Danforth.

"Gabriella!" I heard Chad call.

I looked up to see him running down the stairs looking panicked. I crossed my arms over my chest, still leaning against the car and raise an eyebrow at him. He stops in front of me panting.

"So Chad… were you planning on being late? Cause is you were you should have told me and I would have left and you could have met me there… but noooooooooooo."

He's fidgeting in front of me, his face apprehensive, "Listen Gab…"

I relax my stance and give him a small smile, lightly touching his arm, "What Chad?"

"I know," he whispers and even though I'm standing right in from of him it was almost impossible to hear him.

Deciding to humor him I giggle, "Of course you know or else you wouldn't be coming to see Dri with me."

He looks up at me, his eyes serious – even holding a little bit of anger – "No Gabriella. I know that you know who raped you. And I figured out who it was."

**Troy's POV**

I swiftly turned the corner, searching for my best friend. I don't care what he said this morning he is avoiding me. What other reason would Chad have for skipping lunch? Chad never misses a chance to eat. I stopped when I saw Chad sprinting out the doors, before they swung shut I heard him scream something.

"Gabriella!"

I was frozen. Why was Chad talking to her? He hates her for leaving… I sprinted to the door, watching through the glass windows. My heart jumped when I saw Gabriella, dressed in a jean mini skirt, a pair of black suede boots and a deep purple flowing baby doll tank top, her dark hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun with a few strategic pieces falling and she was wearing a pair of bid sun glasses, leaning casually against a new looking black Lexus SUV. I watched their interaction, noting at first Chad's fidgeting and Gabriella's annoyed stance. My eyes narrowed as she relaxed, taking a step forward, touching his arm and smiling at him – he didn't push her away, or move his arm, but whatever he said to her, her tanned face paled. I watched as her eyes filled with fear started to tear up. She was shaking noticeably again, like she had been this morning and for a fleeting second I thought it was Chad causing it until what ever she had said caused him to rush to her, wrapping her in a hug. I felt what was left of my heart shatter, and confusion entered my brain. She was sobbing and Chad was still holding her, rubbing soothing circles on her back. I wanted nothing more then to run out there and take her in my arms because I loved her. But I was also angry. She had left me, alone and I couldn't deal with it. But looking at her now, more vulnerable then I have ever seen her and in the arms of my traitorous best friend I promised myself one thing.

I would find out the truth.

* * *

God i am a terrible terrible person. I feel so bad right now. I'm only just starting to get over everything - my writes block is still sort of intact as im sure you can tell by reading this. But i'm trying really hard.

I'm really sorry!


	13. Let The Secerts Be Unbroken

**Chapter 12- Let The Secrets Be Unbroken  
**Troy's POV

Since that day I followed Gabriella, I was determined to talk to talk to her. Alone. But as I was coming to find that wasn't exactly the easiest thing. When she was coming into school, she either drove with someone or came in late. During school she's surrounded by people I'm surprised she's not banging her head against the wall because she it literally never alone. When she leaves before lunch I tried to follow her to her house only to see that she had Ryan, Sharpay, Taylor, Chad or Zeke with her and then when they aren't there Mrs. Evans or McKessie or Danforth is there with her. Then after school all of them go to the house with her and usually they all leave, sometimes Sharpay stays and then by the time they do leave Mrs. Montez is home with Gabriella.

It was Saturday morning and I was determined to talk to her. I was in my car driving to her house, intent on pushing my way into the door if I had to – I don't care whose there anymore. I just need to talk to her. As I pulled up down the street from the Montez house – out of view of the both the Danforth's and the Montez's house – I noticed with a jolt that the driveway was empty – apart from Gabriella's canary yellow Cobalt. I took a deep breath and walked up with pathway, ringing the doorbell when I reached the front door. There was a shuffle behind the door and a soft, 'I'm coming' before the door opened to a smiling Gabriella.

"He-llo," she finished – her smiling dropping when she saw it was me.

"Hi," I say more confidently then I feel, "Listen I just wanted to…" I heard a squeal and jumped, looking around – Gabriella flinched, "What the hell was-" I stopped, looking down the see Gabriella holding on her hip a little baby.

She clears her throat but I don't look up from the little baby, "Listen Troy maybe we should talk."

I step past her and into the house, my eyes never leaving the little girl. I took time to look her over. From her slightly tan skin, her dark brown almost black curly hair and her large brown eyes to her blue jeans and pink long sleeve shirt. It was no question whose daughter she was and I was suddenly filled, for the first time since Gabriella left, with anger towards her.

"So is this why you left?" I ask harshly, motioning to the baby.

She winces and steps around me, "We're not getting into this while I'm holding Adri."

"Oh no," I say stepping in front of her, "I think we should because you know she should know what a slut her mother is."

Again she flinches but a small fire starts brewing in her eyes, "Do not insult me in front of my daughter. You can say what ever you want to me – I probably deserve it – but my daughter does not need to hear these things."

I was seething and I couldn't comprehend what she was saying, "Do you feel ashamed? Did you feel like whore? Is that why you left? Didn't want your public to know that you weren't the perfect little girl they all thought you were?"

Her whole demeanor changed suddenly and she looked up at me, a haunted look in her eyes, "Stop it Troy."

I ignored her continuing I was yelling now, pacing in front of he, "Did it feel good? To have him slamming inside of you and knowing that you were cheating on a guy who loved you when you felt nothing for him? Did you have a good laugh with her father about the fucking retard who loved you why you were out whoring around."

"Stop it!" she exclaimed, a little louder and more hysterical.

Again I ignored her, "Where's her father huh? Did he realize what a slut you were and leave you? Did he not want your bastard child? Or did he just not want you?" She was crying, the baby looking close to tears as well, but I was yelling still, angrily stomping closer to her – my face close to hers. "Did you feel it? The moment when the two of you connected and he came inside you and the bastard in your arms was conceived? HUH? DID YOU LOVE FEELING HIM INSIDE YOU? DID YOU MOAN HIS NAME? DID HE MILK YOU FOR ALL YOU WERE WORTH?"

"STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!" She screamed hysterically falling to her knees and putting a hand to her head.

The front door slammed open and Chad ran in, taking in the picture in front of him before running to take the baby from Gabriella and holding her. Once her daughter was away from her I watched in some sick satisfaction as Gabriella cracked. Her once solid figure collapsing into a ball, she was curling into herself – rocking back and forth as she sobbed. Her neat hair was being pulled at by her tightly clenched fists. Chad stood up putting the baby in her crib and coming to stand in front of me.

"What the hell Troy!" he yelled pushing me, "What the fuck did you do to her?"

"I called her out on being a slut," I sneer, "Asked her how it felt to have her guy on the side slamming into her body as she moaned."

Chad paled, but his anger never left, and it didn't fade as he raised a hand and punched me in the jaw. I feel to the floor with a crash, putting a hand to my jaw and staring up at him with my eyes wide.

He bent down, seething, breathing heavily, and whispered in a dangerously low, menacing voice, "Don't talk about things that you know nothing about."

"What the hell is going on in here!" a women exclaimed. I looked up to see Mrs. Danforth standing in the doorway of the Montez's open doors, staring around the house in shock. It was then I recognized the crying baby, Gabriella's loud sobs and the glass piercing into my back. Chad had punched me into a shelf full of glass plates, all of which fell to the floor and shattered. "Oh my god Gabi!" she exclaims finally seeing the broken girl in front of her.

I watched from my position on the floor as Mrs. Danforth rushed forward grabbing a dazed Gabriella in her arms and trying to reassure her. Chad turned away from me, picking up Adri and rocking her in attempt to calm her down. I stood up, took on last look at the broken girl on the ground and kneeled down in front of her.

I heard Chad make a sound but I only started at her before whispering, "I hope you and your bastard child live a great life." And walking out the door.

As I slammed the door to the Montez house shut behind me I took a deep breath, trying to calm my shaking hands and slide down so that I was leaning against the door. I could think of nothing, except Gabriella lying broken on the floor curled in a ball on the floor and the baby girl that was crying in Chad's arms.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was supposed to be short. It was supposed to be hard to read because Troy was supposed to be an ass. I hope I can get the next chapter up fast than this one.

I have two new story ideas that I will not put up until I'm done with this story – which is actually almost done (I know it doesn't seem like it, but it is). I may post them with trailers but I don't think I'll actually post the chapters I have done until I have time.

One is a Twilight story and the other is another HSM one but it's kind of a crossover with NCIS – you'll have to wait and see because you really don't need to watch NCIS to love this story.


	14. In Another Galaxy

**Chapter 13- In Another Galaxy  
**Sharpay's POV

I burst through the Montez front door to hear someone quietly murmuring and a familiar sob. I look to the ground in front of the living room and pushed my tears away as I saw a sight that I hadn't seen since that day more than a year ago. I rushed forward, gently pushing Mrs. Danforth away and scooping Gabriella into my embrace. And think to myself how badly I want to murder Troy Bolton.

"Go help Chad," I murmur to the older women, "I can hear her crying in her room."

She nods, smiling sadly and walking up the stairs. I turn back to the girl in front of me and sigh angerily. I had rushed here in a frenzy as soon as Chad called me – when he told me what happened I had an idea of what I would be seeing. Like I told Chad earlier this week, she had glazed over the parts of her traumatic experience, to make it less painful for herself, but now – after the crude things Troy had yelled at her – I imagined it like a dam breaking. All her memories were flooding out and there was nothing she could do to stop them. As I remember what she told me later I'm transported back to the day I found her, in a similar position to this.

**Flashback**

"Huma huma ackupawa," I sang quietly under my breath as I walked down the hall.

It was after school and I had stayed after Ryan left in order to work on my newest plan. I was going to – I stopped suddenly, my mind going blank as I heard the quiet sobbing coming from the classroom I just walked by.

I stopped, looking into the door and calling out tentatively, "hello?" I stepped in further and furred my eyebrows, "Anyone in hear?"

I heard the sobbing again and bite my lip as I detected that it was coming from the closed supply closet door. I walked slowly to the door, an eerie feeling creeping up on me, but I ignored it as I turned the doorknob. The door creaked as it opened, and the sight in front of me almost made me lose my lunch.

I won't lie, I never liked Gabriella Montez and it wasn't a secret that I didn't like her. I never pretended that I bought her saint that can do no wrong attitude, never saw the other side to the nerdy genius girl – never saw the beauty that I knew everyone else saw.

But as I stood in the doorway, staring down at her broken body – I was overcome with the image of a scared little girl. Gabriella Montez lay completely naked on the dirty floor of the supply closet. Her clothes her thrown all over the floor, she had blood coming from her head, scratches all over her body that were bleeding, her breast and thighs were bruised, her normally tamed hair was frizzy and covered slightly in blood, her feet were bare and bloodied, and her eyes that stared blankly into space held no sparkle, no life. She lay there, curled tightly into a ball, her dirty bloody hands clutching at her disarrayed black curls, pulling at it as though trying to rip it from her head. I rushed forward, and pulled her into my arms – not caring about the mess. I rocked her back and forth, trying to clam her but nothing worked. So I left the supply closet door open, closed the door to the calculus classroom and ran back to the theater where I knew Ms. Darbus would be.

"!" I screamed as I ran down the hallway.

She ran out of the theater and stared at me wide eyed, "Ms. Evan what on ear-"

I pulled her down the hallway talking a mile a minute, "Ms. Darbus I found Gabriella on the floor in a supply closet, I think she was raped!"

"WHAT!" she exclaims, "Are you sure Ms. Evans?"

"See for yourself," I say as I open the door.

Looking down I saw Gabriella had dressed herself and was still continually sobbing. I paid little attention to the conversation Ms. Darbus was having, I know I volunteered to bring her to my house. But before I helped Gabriella off the floor my brown eyes zoned in on an ID card not to far from the door of the closet. As I bent down to pick it up, I gasped – seeing the name of the man who I think raped Gabriella Montez.

**End Flashback**

That hadn't been the last time I found her like that and sadly I doubt this will be the last time I find her like this. But that doesn't make it any easier. The ID card I found would have only been circumstantial evidence at best – there were many explanations as to how I got there and I never had the guts to come right out and ask Gabriella is I was right. It wouldn't have mattered anyways; at first she had herself convinced that she had somehow asked for this – asked to get raped.

**Flashback (after Ryan sees Gabriella)**

I sat in my room with Gabriella Montez. She was wearing a pair of my gray Victoria secret sweat pants and a black wildcats hoodie of Ryan's and lying in my bed staring at the ceiling. I'm not sure if it's registered with her that she's in my house or even that I've been sitting here with her – just watching and holding her hand. Something inside me changed in that moment, looking at this helpless girl who I had never even seen tear up before this and I realized it was a protective feeling. I wanted to protect her, to keep her save and make sure that she never had to go through something like this again.

"I'll protect you," I whispered to her still form, "I'll help you get over this – I'll – I'll do anything if you just wake up," I whispered with tears in my eyes, "just snap out of this. Because you're scaring me."

I sat in silence staring at her for a few minutes before suddenly her head turned slowly from the ceiling to look at me, her dead brown eyes staring into mine.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely, "Thank you so much."

I gave her a tearful smile, "No problem," I paused, "The police are…"

"No," she says stronger then before, "No. No cops Sharpay, please – no cops."

I stare at her and squeeze her hand tighter, "Gabriella you know that you were…"

"Yes," she cuts me off, " I know. But right now I don't – I can't."

I nod, "You're going to have to eventually," I say quietly.

She just stares back at me and shakes her head, "I deserved it you know," she whispers, "I deserved it."

I'm silent, staring at her, "I'm sorry," I whisper angrily, "Did you just say-"

"I deserved it yes," she says back angrily, "because I did."

**End Flashback**

We'd gone back and forth for about twenty minutes before Gabriella started laughing and sobbing. I hugged her and suddenly, nothing else mattered except how much I wanted to help this girl. I looked down at the girl in front of me, and sighed sadly. Nightmare after nightmare, even daydream after daydream I was there – every time she screamed I was there, holding her, reassuring her. Sometimes I would hear her plead with him, beg him to stop what he was doing only for her to receive answers in her head that would make her lash out more. I stared down at her, seeing a relapse but knowing that I couldn't allow that – not with my niece, my goddaughter upstairs crying and needing her mother.

"Ella," I whispered, "No one can hurt you anymore. No one will hurt you anymore. You have so much to live for, you have a daughter that needs you," I stressed. "This time, I'm not going to let you revert into yourself because I made a promise to protect that girl upstairs and that includes making sure she has her mother."

"Pay?" she whispers through her sobs.

"I'm right here Elle, right here," I'm quick to reassure her, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Why me?" she sobs, "why did it happen to me?"

"I don't know," I whisper, "sometimes bad things – terrible things – happen to the people who deserve them the least."

Her sobs finally clamed down, coming to more of a whimper then a wail and she looked up at me through shining eyes, "Where's Dri?"

I smile softy at her, "Upstairs. I think she's giving Chad a hard time."

Gabriella cracks a smile and shakily stands, "I'll go save him from the wonder that is my daughter."

I laugh and watch her as she walks away and up the stairs, but something makes me stop her.

"It was me you know," I whisper but I know she hears me when she stops and raises a questioning eyebrow, "Who told Chad that you knew who did it, that told him I thought I knew who did it… I never had the guts to ask you out right and I still don't – but I'm almost positive I'm right…. And I know you know who did it. The only thing I can't figure out is who you're trying to protect."

She stares at me for a minute and then says quietly, "I'm not protecting anyone Shar."

With that she walks away, smiling slightly at me as she disappears from view and I groan quietly shaking my head, "who indeed," I whisper quietly turning to follow her up the stairs, "who indeed."

* * *

A/N: I'm doing short chapters for a reasonnnnn don't worry either the next one or the one after that will be longer... and jam packed with DRAMA! BAM!


	15. It's Not Over Until He Say's It Is

**Chapter 14- It's Not Over Until He Say's It Is.  
**Gabriella's POV

I am a lot of things. I am a straight A student, a singer, a best friend, a "little sister", a daughter, a rape victim.

But most of all I am a mother.

My daughter may only be 8 months old but she is everything to me. I would do anything to protect her, - I have done everything to protect her. I think, to some extent they knew that I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. "They" being my family and friends. But they don't seem to understand the extent I'm willing to go, that I'm willing to risk myself to keep her safe – to make sure she never has to go through anything I've gone through.

They don't understand that if I had to… I would be raped all over again.

End Gabriella's POV

Sharpay's POV

"Hey you've reached Gabi's cell le-"

"UGHHH!" I explained slamming my cell phone shut. I continued pacing back and forth, grinding my teeth together and grumbling to myself.

"Maybe she's grocery shopping," Ryan offers from his place on my bed.

"For three hours!" I exclaim, "I wish Chad was home," I grumble.

"Shar you've called seven times in the last five minutes and left three threatening messages. She will get back to you when she can," he promised quietly.

"I have this… feeling," I whisper, "In the pit of my stomach that something just – isn't right."

"Maybe it's indigestion," Ryan suggest teasingly.

I glare at him, "It's not funny," I snap, "Ryan I think something might be seriously wrong."

"Shar," he sighs, "I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe she just wanted some time alone with her daughter."

"But you didn't see her last week Ry," I say helplessly as I plop down in my fluffy pink butterfly chair.

He groans quietly to himself and gets off my bed, coming to kneel in front of me, "Gabi's a big girl Sharpay – I know you're worried about her. I am too! But I don't want to smoother her, that will just make her more upset."

"But what if something is really wrong!" I question desperately.

He stands up, "Shar you're creating something out of nothing." He says as he walks out of my room.

I watch as Ryan walks out of my room, a feeling of despair setting in. But I know that right now, there's nothing I can do about it.

End POV

Chad's POV

For two week I have looked "high and low" for Troy Bolton. I've tried to run into him at school only to run into dead ends. I've called his phone every chance I got only to get voicemail. I've gone to his house only to find that he doesn't want to talk to me, or that he's not home.

I know I've avoided the one place I know he is, the places I know I could find him. Because the truth is I know exactly what I'm going to have to do when I find him, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I know what I'm going to have to tell him when I finally get to talk to him – but I'm not sure if I'm ready.

The feeling was sudden, and temporary, but I was suddenly hit with this overwhelming determination to find my best friend and knock some sense into him. And that is how I ended up at the Albuquerque National Park, watching from a distance as Troy Bolton shot basket after basket and missed basket after basket. Was I about to make things worse for him? Or better?

"You keep missing those shots and this team isn't going to make it to the first round of the finals." I say to him as I walk closer.

He stops, the ball in his hand steady, and doesn't turn to face me as he says, "You keep talking and you won't have to worry about our team making it to the finals, you wont be on the team."

I rolled me eyes and ignored his statement, "You should have given her a chance to explain."

"What's there to explain," he asks sharply, "She's a slut, I was in love with her, she has a bastard daughter and my best friend knew. Better yet my best friend became her "big brother" again," he finishes bitterly, turning to look at me.

I glare at him, "Adri isn't a bastard and Brie isn't a slut!"

"We were together for two years and she cheated on me! What else can she be!"

The same way I felt an unexplainable determination to make Troy see that he was wrong, see what really went on, I felt an uncontainable angry seeping out of me.

"A RAPE VICTIM!" I explode in his face, "SHE COULD BE A RAPE VICTIM." I was breathing heavily, staring at him with my eyes wide and my hands in the air. It registered with me that this was the first time I had said the word – that I had said Gabriella was raped. "She's a rape victim," I whisper more to myself then to him.

He stared at me, whether he was waiting for me to calm down or because he was in shock I'll never know what but he paused for only a minute before whispering, "What?"

His eyes were wide and emotionless and as I looked at him, I was regretting telling him this way, but I knew it was the only way it would get through to him. "Gabriella was raped last year, two month before she left. And about a week before she left she found out she was pregnant. I would explain the whole thing to you but I shouldn't even be telling you this." I say to him, "She should be telling you this, it's her business not mine. You should have let her explain. And when you're ready to talk to her – she'll explain everything else to you. But everything you were accusing her off, everything you were shouting at her, it's not right." I exclaim shaking my head, "It wasn't right," I whisper. I clear my throat looking at my best friend, "Gabriella has been through a lot. She's stronger than anyone I know. And she has a beautiful daughter who I have the privilege of kn-"

I didn't get to finish my statement because suddenly he was walking by me, striding with a purpose away from the park. He dropped the basketball to the ground, allowing it to bounce once, as he walked away and down the sidewalk. I smiled slightly to myself; I wasn't sure where he was going. But I had a pretty good idea.

End POV

Sharpay's POV

Three hours, 165 phone calls, 78 text messages, and 23 voicemails later I was pacing again. I hadn't heard from Gabriella in the three hours that I stared at my phone and the feeling I had in the pit of my stomach had gradually gotten worse. I sighed, throwing my phone down on my bed and flopping down next to it, allowing my hands to fall so that they were cupped over my eyes.

"Ella where are you?" I whispered quietly to myself.

Suddenly cutting through the silence of the room, the sound I had been waiting to hear for three hours sounded. My cell phone was ringing. I sat up quickly, scrambling to grab my phone. I flipped it open without looking at the caller ID.

"Gabriella!" I screeched. The person on the other end answered and I paled, "Give me two minutes."

Slipping on a pair of my shoes and grabbing my car keys I sprinted down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Ryan calls as I grab a zip up jacket.

I glare at him, "I should have listened to my indigestion."

End POV

Troy's POV – ten minutes earlier

I had walked aimlessly around Albuquerque for all of twenty minutes before my feet stopped on their own accord and when I looked up, I saw that I was in front of Gabriella's house. I sighed and started walking up the walkway, just like I did two weeks ago.

Was I really doing the right thing? How would she take to seeing me? When Chad had told me that she'd been… that she'd been raped, the only thing I could see was her body curled into that ball in the floor of her living room, the blank, lost, emotionless look on her face. Was it to soon? Would she even want to see me? Or was this all too soon, I was expecting too much to soon?

I stopped suddenly, only halfway to the door and squinted – before I felt my heart drop. The front door was open.

It was only a crack, not enough to seem like it was closed but enough to be considered something. I ran forward, pushing the door open all the way and freezing in the doorway. The house was completely destroyed. The couch was overturned, most of the picture frames were broken and on the floor – and the blood. There was so much blood. It was on the couch, on the floor, on the wall. I registered the sound of crying coming from up the stairs and slowly walked up them, taking in the blood that was soaking them. I kept walking, following the small cries I could hear before I pushed open the door across from Gabriella's room.

It was Adrianna's room. But it didn't look like something a baby would sleep in… it didn't look like something anyone would sleep in. The walls were covered with blood, hand prints were scattered across all four walls and on the wall above Adrianna's crib, written in dripping red blood were the words 'IT'S NOT OVER UNTIL I SAY IT IS.'

Something was drawing me to the crib, some magnetic force that I couldn't describe and as I looked down at the baby in the crib – all I could see was blood. Her face was covered in blood, her clothing soaked with it. She was lying in her crib crying, covered in blood and as I dialed three numbers I realized one thing – Gabriella Montez was nowhere in this house.


	16. Mess of Life

**Chapter 15- Mess of Life  
**No one's POV

Blue, red blue. Blue red blue. Those were the colors that were bringing seen on the Montez's house. When the pink convertible pulled up, Troy Bolton was sitting on the front step, his head in his hands, answering the questions of the two police officers in front of him. Out of the convertible, a frantic blonde appeared – her hair piled messily on top of her head, her white undershirt wrinkled, one leg of her pink Victoria Secrets Pink capris was rolled higher than the other, her flat sneakers were untied and only half of her hood on the matching pink zip up hoodie she wore was out. She saw Troy and immediately went over to him, pushing her way through the two officers in front and shaking him by his shoulders.

"Where is she!" she demands hysterically

Troy looks up startled and tries to back away, "I don't know!"

"You were here!" she screams, "Where's Adri!"

"Oh," Troy breathes, "Chad's with her the paramedics were checking her out…"

Sharpay took off, stopping several feet away from the back of the ambulance where a nervous Chad was pacing back and forth. She looked a little further and saw that one of the paramedics was trying to calm down a baby; one that she realized was covered in blood. She paled and ran over, rushing past Chad who called out to stop her and straight to the paramedic, taking Adrianna out of his arms and rocking her quietly, humming the lullaby Gabriella sings to her.

"Is any of this blood hers?" she asks when the baby calms down.

The man snaps out of his trance and replies, "Umm no. It's someone else's and – how the hell did you do that?"

"Her mother sings the song I was humming to her to help her sleep. Plus she's my god daughter, she's used to my touch," Sharpay responds not looking up for Adri's tear streaked face. She walks away, Chad following behind her, and comes to stop next to the cops that were questioning Troy, "What happened!" she demands.

The cop glances down at the baby and nods to Troy, "Mr. Bolton said he was coming here to talk to Ms. Montez but when he got here the front door was unlocked. He said that it looked like there was some struggle and that there was a lot of blood, even downstairs. The upstairs was worse. There's a trail of blood up the stairs and then the baby's room is completely covered in blood," he nods to Adri, "She was crying in her crib looking worse then she does now. And written on the wall in blood was the words, 'It's not over until I say it is'." There was silence so he continued, "We have a forensics team searching both floors, we've already sent a sample of the blood from all of the different areas to the lab so we can have a better idea of what exactly went on." He pauses, taking the time to survey the three teenagers before him, "Do you have any idea, who would do this to her?"

Sharpay looks back down into the eyes of her goddaughter, her own brown eyes filling with tears as she nods, "Last year Gabriella was raped," she pauses, glancing at Troy to see that the information didn't surprise him in the slightest, "She has Adrianna," she says lifting the baby slightly in her arms, "She never pressed charges against the rapist, she never even filed a police report until this month – you may not have gotten the information from San Diego yet," she explains quietly.

"And her rapist was?" The officer asks staring at the little girl in Sharpay's arms.

"I only have speculations," She whispers still not looking up, "She never told me – and I never wanted to incriminate someone unless I was sure."

"Do you have any evidence against this suspect?" he continues, urging her to look up.

She continues to smile down at her goddaughter, "I found his wallet with his ID on the floor of the classroom where it happened."

"YOU FOUND WHAT!" Chad exclaims.

Her eyes flash briefly up to his, before softening again as she looks down at the child, "It could have been there before Chad, I didn't know for sure – just like what I told you a couple of weeks ago, I never asked and she never told, but I had ideas."

"You had more than ideas Sharpay!" he exclaims, "There could have been actually evidence, evidence to put this guy away and you ignored it!"

"I did what she wanted!" Sharpay screams. Adri starts crying and Sharpay sighs, rocking her in attempt to quite her down.

"I'll take her," Mrs. Danforth whispers from behind Sharpay, "I have some clean clothes for her at our house and I'll give her a bath."

Sharpay nods, stoically handing Adrianna over to Chad's mom and placing a hand over her newly free face as she looks up at the officer imploringly, "I was doing what I thought was right – which meant respecting my best friends wishes."

The officer nods, "But Ms. Evans if you want any chance of finding your friend then you need to tell us who-"

"I know who it was," Chad whispers, shaking his head. Everyone stares at him and he turns to Sharpay, "I figured it out the day we talked and I confronted her about it. She didn't confirm it but she started sobbing."

The officer sighs angrily, "listen kids if we have any chance of finding your friend alive your going to have to tell-"

"Jake Sheppard," the two answered in unison.

**Unknown Location**

The damp, dark room was filled with different sounds. There was the sound of smoke puffing into the air, the sound of cogs working together and the sound of running water. The walls were made of stone; a dark gritty graying color and the floor was made of hard, cold cement. The air in the room was stifling; it was foggy from all of the smoke, making it almost impossible to see. There was one section of the room that was filled with large rounded cylinder tanks, another with a complicated maze of pipes – and unfittingly in the ominous room, a small cot with a frayed blanket and a fluff less pillow. There were no windows and only one door on a platform with long winding stairs. On the wall that the complex array of pipes was situated you could see a figure lying limply on the ground. One hand was in the air, held to the pipe by a pair of stainless steel handcuffs. Her body lay horizontally across the floor, the other arm next to her body, one of her legs crossed of the other. You could clearly see her wounds through the soaked used to be white skimpy bed tank top and short black shorts. One wound was bleeding profusely from her stomach, and he others coming from her thighs, were several deep cuts were smeared with dried blood. Her hair lay wild around her, the cut on her forehead dripping a dark red blood into her dark brown locks. Her face was deathly pale, her lips barely visible by color tone and although her eyes were closed you could tell that they moved frantically back and forth behind her sealed eyelids.

The door to the room slammed shut as a person stepped further into the light. The man leaned over the railing, smirking down at the figure as it flinched, as though aware of his eyes on her. He began his descent down the stairs, his eyes never leaving the beautifully broken body of Gabriella Montez. It was then that Jake Sheppard realized what fun it was for him, how much he enjoyed, seeing her broken – hearing her whimper and scream made him excited, gave him a thrill. So as her brown eyes slowly opened and stared at him unfocusedly before closing once again he could only look down at the bloody knife in his hand and think, 'This is going to be fun.'


	17. Believe In Her, Believe In Me

**Chapter 16- Believe In Her, Believe In Me.  
**3rd Person

Two weeks. It had been a long and tiring two weeks. Sharpay Evans was in her living room, surrounded by cops, family and friends, pacing back and forth.

"Why is she not home? She should be home, here with her daughter. Not out somewhere scared and alone with the person who raped her," Sharpay whimpers.

"I'm sorry Miss, but we have yet to come up with even a lead of where she could be," one of the officers says, "We've called all of Sheppard's family and talked with most of his friends – they didn't even know he was back in town."

They had found out that after Jake raped Gabriella he left town. But because only a few people knew where Gabriella had been her had been unable to find her, they were sure he had left just to look for her.

"We just want to warn you," one of the other cops starts, "that the longer she's missing – the less likely it will be that we will find her and if we do, it's not likely we will find her alive. With the amount of blood she lost only at her house, she may have been dead before he even got her to where he took-"

"She's not dead," Sharpay interrupts, "and I don't like you implying that she could be."

"Sharpay sweetie," Lisa says soothingly, "They just want to warn us."

"There's no reason to warn us!" Sharpay exclaims, "Gabriella will be fine when they find her. She will be here and putting Adri to sleep in no time." There's a cry that sounds over the baby monitor and Sharpay looks to the ceiling, "Excuse me, I have a goddaughter to take care of." She pauses to stare at the officers in the room individually, "But you know if you would actually do your job and find her mother, I wouldn't have to," she says.

"Sharpay that is enough!" Lisa says, "I'm sorry," she replies as Sharpay walks away.

The younger blonde walks up the stairs, shaking her head and pushing back the tears that want to escape her eyes. She steps on to the landing, taking a right and walking past the family portrait on the wall. She stops momentarily in front of a picture of Gabriella and her from just after Adri was born. Sharpay was hugging a tired Gabriella as she sat up in her hospital bed. Gabriella looked exhausted, but she was beaming and holding on to her best friend just as tightly as Sharpay was hanging on to her. Looking at the two girls side by side you could say that you've never seen a pair that is more different in looks. While everything about Gabriella is dark, Sharpay's features are lighter even though both have brown eyes the only familiar things about them is the loving twinkling. Sharpay closes her eyes feeling the warmth from Gabriella's cheek present on hers. No matter how many times Sharpay is warned about what kind of condition they may find her best friend in she knows that she's not dead. They connection between the two is more than best friend to best friend or even sister to sister – it's like they are apart of one another, like together they make one complete person. She sighs tiredly, shaking her head and lightly touching Gabriella's face through the glass. She smiles sadly and continues on down the hallway, opening the white door almost directly next to the picture. She pauses at first, listening to the other side and hearing a quiet whimper, before she twists the knob and allows herself to walk into the nursery.

When Gabriella had first said she was pregnant and she wanted to keep the baby, they made two nursery's focusing more on the one in the Montez household before they came and made a more playful one here at the Evans mansion. The walls where painted a light blue and had different shaped silver stars stamped on all of them, and weaved sporadically throughout a string of music notes. In the corner near the window, which over looks the waterfall they have in the backyard, is a white and blue rocking car, a light blue and silver blanket thrown over the back. And on the wall that is opposite the door, is Adri's crib.

Sharpay strides across the room, leaning against the railing of the crib, and looking down at the little girl. Adri's face is a little pale and slightly wet from the tears that were coming from her large doe eyes. Sharpay coos at her, picking her up carefully and cradling Adrianna in her arms.

"Hello pretty girl," she whispers, "What's wrong huh?" she questions, "Did you have another nightmare?" she asks rhetorically again, "You know – you're mommy told me that when she was younger she used to get nightmares from watching Dumbo." Sharpay pauses to smile down at the silent girl, "But you're not dreaming about flying elephants are you?" she whispers. She pauses watching as Adri searches her face before frowning and turning to look around the room as best she can. Sharpay smiles sadly and blinks back tears, "You're looking for your mommy huh baby girl?" she rocks Adri a little, "I want to know where she is to." She sighs and walks over to the rocking chair, sitting down in it and placing the blanket over Adri to keep the slender breeze coming from the window from chilling her to much. "You know," Sharpay whispers staring down into the face that mirrors her best friend, "I promised your mommy… that I wouldn't let something like this happen – that I would keep her safe." She scoffs, "Great job I did at that huh?" she shakes her head, looking up and out the window, "I failed at both my jobs," she corrects herself, "because not only did I promise to protect your mother, but I promised to protect you and protecting you means making sure you have the best care and that means having your mother here with you. Not only that but if I was doing such a good job at protecting you – you wouldn't have had to see your mother be kidnapped and whatever else she had done to her in that house." She pauses again staring at the setting sun, "Another day without any word. You know, you're not the only one who's lost without your mother - everyday that goes by I worry about what she's going through. And I feel like I'm messing you up. You're her daughter and she may not have raised you this whole time but I've never seen anyone more devoted to someone than your mother." She laughs bitterly, "Is it terrible that I wish your mother was here not for you, my god daughter and someone who needs a mother, but for me? Because I don't know how I can live without her. She always saw so much more in me and I don't know how I can keep thinking I'm better then what everyone says and thinks without her. She's like… my rock." She laughs genuinely this time, "To quote one of your mother's favorite shows, 'She's my person.'" As the colors in the sky change a single tear falls from Sharpay's eye, "I wish… for just one minute that I could know how you're feeling." It was clear that Sharpay was know longer talking to the baby in her arms, "Are you scared? Are you worried? Are you angry? Are you blaming yourself? Are you sick or in pain?" She lets a strangled sob slip through her lips as she whispers, "I hope Ella – that wherever you are… you know that you have people who love you and will never stop looking for you."

There was an eerie silence following her declaration, it was broken by the creaking sound coming from the doorway. Sharpay jumped and stood up, turning around to see Troy sheepishly raising his hands in the air.

"Sorry," he mutters looking at the little girl in Sharpay's arms, "I didn't mean to interrupt."

"You didn't," she answers watching as he shuffles from foot to foot, "She had a nightmare," she offers to explain the girl's crying.

"Oh," he says walking further into the room. He pauses, "How old is she?"

Sharpay watches him as he walks closer, coming to stand next to her and staring down at the baby, "She's only 8 months old, she has her 9th month coming up in a week. "

There's a silence, before Troy speaks up looking still at Adri, "She looks – unbelievably like Brie. Not even an inch of the bastard."

"She's a beautiful baby," Sharpay agrees quietly.

"She's so tiny," he whispers after a minute.

Sharpay smiles softly, "She was born really small, even though Gabi was late."

He finally looks up, hesitantly, "Were you with her?" he ask curiously, then he clarifies, "when she gave birth – she wasn't like… alone right?"

Sharpay nods slowly, "Yes I was there," she pauses, "Her mom was in the house when she went to labor – I was on the phone with her. We got there maybe an twenty minutes after she called – me, Ryan, my mom and dad." She shakes her head, "Ella was so happy after she gave birth. But to have that taken away…"

"Taken away?" Troy asks in confusion.

Sharpay smiles softly, "They didn't get that far in the story huh?" when he shakes his head she sits back in the rocking chair, nodding to the window, "lean over there and I'll tell you a story."

**Unknown Location**

Gabriella awoke to fingers lightly tracing over her cheekbone. She shivers and squeezes her eyes shut tighter, hoping that maybe when she opens her eyes, she would be in her bedroom and this would be her mother or even Sharpay… anyone besides –

"Ah so you're awake," the husky voice says.

Tears begin to well behind her closed eyelids and she pushes them back before she opens them and looks into the dull gray ones staring at her. She uses her arm to push her battered body up from the floor, to shakes with the effort and she winces at the head rush. She shivers, but this time from the cold and tries to discreetly fix her tank top which had been stretched to an extreme where it was no longer covering much. She avoided looking at Jake from the fear that she would start crying when she saw the face that haunted her nightmares. She bite her tongue to keep from crying out when his calloused hand traveled over her bruised arm.

She knew she was relatively lucky when it came to being kept in the Lava Springs basement. Her time here hadn't been spent being continuously raped; in fact she hadn't technically been raped once in this basement. Her chest was bruised and raw with bite marks from his roughness and he'd used his finger and his tongue to make her cum and there was never anything she could do to stop it, but he had yet to rip through her as he had in the supply closet of her calculus classroom. She was extremely weak from blood loss and was close to freezing from her lack of clothing, her once bleeding cuts had been sown together without anesthesia or medication to keep infection away – they didn't hurt as much anymore but she knew that they probably were red, sometimes it felt like she could feel the infection taking over her body.

She remembered after 3 days when she'd first woken up, she'd been scared and had screamed until Jake arrived. Her fear had heightened and he had taken away any hope she had by explaining that the basement was basically sound proof and no one came down here unless something was wrong. She felt utterly crushed, and she still did but the bigger problem she had was the resigned feelings that were beginning to creep in. The feeling that she wouldn't be found – that she would be held here until she died, which she sadly didn't think would be long. She tried to think about the last thing she'd said to her mother, to Adrianna, to Sharpay, Chad, Taylor, Ryan or Zeke and all that was coming up was blank thoughts or the look on Adri's face as she was thrown out of the nursery in attempt to protect her daughter – the daughter that Jake had originally wanted.

He'd come to her house early on Saturday, right after her mother left for work; he'd snuck in through her balcony open balcony and went straight into Adri's room. Gabriella had walked in and he'd been bending down to pick her up out of her crib. She reacted immediately, jumping on to his back – only realizing how bad of an idea it was when he'd stabbed her in the leg. They'd put up a fight, and she'd been stabbed two more times, sliced in her head once – blood had splattered everywhere before he'd given up trying to take Adri and decided to drag her down the stairs instead. She'd put up on of the best fights over her life and in the process completely trashed the entirety of her house and still somehow managed to get kidnapped.

She winced suddenly when she felt his breath on her ear, "How are you feeling," he whispered as he lightly traced his tongue around the outer shell over her ear, "my love?" She whimpered at the feel, trying to scramble away but feeling his hand come around her waist, squeezing as he pulls her so that she chest is pressed harshly up against his. "Trying to get away," he mumbles kissing down her neck, when she whimpers again he bites down and she cries out, attempting to use her hand it push him away.

"Stop it," she mumbles.

One of his hands sneaks under her tank top, running over the smooth bloodied skin of her stomach, "You see Gabriella," he murmurs kissing her chin, "I want you to bad to stop," he says as he forces his lips on her. She gags and he advantages, slipping his tongue into her mouth – but she takes advantage, biting down as hard as she can on his tongue almost smiling in satisfaction when she draws blood. He pulls away, slapping her harshly across her face and spitting the blood at her, "Bitch!" he exclaims.

He whips his cell phone out of his pocket and waves it in front of her; "You want to get out of here alive don't you? Maybe you should corporate."

She nods, "But I don't think you're going to let me go," she answers quietly.

He laughs cruelly and kisses her harshly. This time, Gabriella's hand is held down and the only thing she can do it take her uninjured leg, kicking him hard in the stomach. He's forced backwards and he lands with a crash on the floor. He scowls at her from the floor, standing up and walking slowly over to her before he gives her a sharp kick to the head.

"You got that right Montez. I'll kill you before you walk out of her alive."

She registered his voice and his feet pounding up the metal stairs as black spots formed in her line of vision, the last thing she saw was a glint of something through the maze of pipes – the last coherent thought she had was, 'Maybe.'


	18. One Call

**Chapter 17- One Call**

It was exactly 6:03 A.M when at the same time, four different cell phones rang from within the Evan's mansion where the friends and family of Gabriella Montez was staying. It was one of those phone calls that would later wake the house into an uncontrollable chaos.

**Sharpay's Room.**

The only thing visible beneath the mountain of pink comforter and pillows was a small bit of the blonde's light colored head. The occasional snore escaping her mouth, she shifted as the cell phone on her pillow rang. It continued to ring until one of her hands snuck out from under the pink maze and pulled the phone under. She hit the talk button and yawned as she sat up, the sheets falling away and revealing her dressed in pink pajamas and her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. She placed a hand over her mouth to cover another yawn and answered the phone.

_"Hello?"_

**Ryan's room.**

In contrast to his twin sister's room, Ryan's bed of green was neatly made, looking as though he had yet to sleep in it. The soft mumbling coming from the opposite wall shows you why. Ryan lies with his head on the keyboard of his computer, typing a string of letter on to the paper he'd been working on, drool rolling out the corner of his mouth. He mumbles again picking his head up as his cell phone rings and blindly looking for it. He sleepily rubs a first of his eyes once he has it and glances at the time, groaning to himself as he answers.

_"Hello?"_

**Troy's Guest Bedroom**

Troy's room was done in blue, the sheets setting off his tan skin and it lay around his hips, showing only a little bit of his blue boxers, his bare chest was pressed against the mattress and his face was pressed into the pillow. His phone vibrates on the bedside table, moving closer and closer to the edge until it tips off. Troy's hand shoots out from under the pillow catching it before it hit the floor. He sits up, stretching and yawning, running his free hand through his hair before answering the phone.

_"Hello?"_

**Adrianna's Bedroom**

As the baby girl slept soundly in her crib, her mind plagued with picture of her mother, Chad lay on the floor next to crib, having gotten up in the middle of the night when Adri started crying. He was snoring loudly, but she was used to it, so she barely even stirred. He was lying spread eagle on his back in a pair of red boxers and a white undershirt. As he lay on the floor in his niece's room, the cell phone in his room beeped, signaling a phone call. It beeped and beeped and beeped, but with no one there to answer it, it continued to ring, until it went to voicemail – the caller never being known until later in the morning.

**The basement at Lava Springs**

As Gabriella stirred, her vision was still blurry, and her head still foggy she felt lethargic, and tired but the speed of the water running through the pipes she was attached to let her know that it was morning. She had noticed in her first couple days here that the water ran quicker through the pipes when it was morning as the spa was just starting up, so even though she was shaky on the exact time of day – she knew it was still early. She sat up, putting a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness came over her and slowly opening her eyes.

She saw with relief that she was alone, the only times that she felt truly safe in the basement. She tried to remember what exactly had happened to cause her to black out and came up with one of the last things she saw, Jake's foot coming in contact with her head. For some reason she had the memory of something sparkling in the maze of pipes. She looked around her, her dazed eyes searching out the flash of light she'd seen. Her eyes sharpened and they zoned in on the silver phone lying underneath the pipes.

'Oh god,' she thinks, 'finally.'

The swell of hope within her was crushed when she tried three times to reach the phone, coming up just short. She sighed, pushing away the tears that threatened to fall and leaned dejectedly against the pipes. She's gotten her hopes up – the swelling feeling inside – only to be disappointed when she once again could do nothing to help herself. She banged her head against the pipes, groaning when she realized her mistake. She put a hand to her head as black spots formed in front of her vision again. She worked hard to push them away, not wanting to pass out again. She sat with her eyes closed for a minute and controlled her breathing before smiling proudly to herself when the dots slowly dissolved. She moved her wrist, trying to stop her hand from falling asleep and felt the pipe move with her wrist.

Her eyes suddenly snapped open as she frantically took her free hand and searched the floor. Her hand came in contact with cold metal and she smiled, wincing as she remembered the pain of being hit with the pipe. She grasped the pipe tightly in her hand, getting down on the ground as far as she could and putting the pipe right up against the phone. She used the pipe to bring the phone to the wall, and leaning as far as she could – wincing when the handcuffs cut into her arm – she pushed the cell phone up the wall. Once it was free from the pipes she placed the pipe on top of the phone and pulled it closer to her body. She smiled triumphantly, placing the pipe back where it had been and picking up the cell phone, she frantically dialed the first number she could think of.

It rang once, twice and then a third time, she felt her heart sink as it appeared the person wasn't going to pick up. She was about to hang up when suddenly the phone stopped ringing and she heard a rustling on the other end.

Even though the voice was tired and sounded angry she didn't care, it was the best thing she'd head in two weeks.

_"Hello?"_


	19. Just Hold On

**Chapter 18- Just Hold On**

"_Hello?"_

Gabriella was frozen with the phone to her ear. A sudden calm feeling washed over her as the voice registered in her mind. She opened her mouth once, twice and then a third time, each time trying to answer. Her voice was caught in her throat, and she was unable to form the words she had running through her head. She was frantic, trying to get the words out before the person hung up – this was her last chance.

"Hello!" the person screamed, irritated.

She cleared her throat and tried once again to speak, wincing when the croaked out voice registered in her mind.

"Hi."

**Sharpay's Room**

"Hello?" She huffed into the phone a second time, waiting for the person to answer her.

She stood up, walking to her closet as the person coughed once on the other line, "Ms. Evans this is Mr. Klein, the admissions director at UCLA."

She pauses, the hand reaching for her bathrobe stilling briefly before she grabs it and slips it on, leaving it untied, "Yes?"

"I'm calling this number because it was one of Ms. Montez's second listed, if she was unreachable I was supposed to call you."

The lump in the blonde's throat grew as she swallowed and nodded, "Yes."

"I would firstly, like to offer my congratulations to you Ms. Evans on your acceptance and tell you that we look forward to having you in our drama program next year," the man says cheerfully. Sharpay couldn't allow herself to feel great, because of the original plans made. "And secondly I would like to congratulate Ms. Montez and also ask her to come down sometime next week to check out our daycare facilities."

Sharpay chokes out a sob, placing a hand over her mouth, "I'm sorry Mr. Klein," she stutters out, "But can I call you back?"

When the older man had hesitantly answered the affirmative Sharpay closed her phone and slid herself down the wall, resting her head on her knees and allowing herself for the first time in several weeks to truly cry.

**Troy's Guest Bedroom**

"Hello?" Troy called irately into the phone, rolling out of his bed clad in only his blue boxers.

He ran a hand through his messy hair, attempting to tame it before he slipped on a white beater and sat down on the edge of the bed, "Troy?" the person asked, "Are you coming to practice today?"

Frowning angrily as he stretches he answers his father, "Dad I told you…"

"I know what you said," Jack Bolton interrupts, "And I respect that Troy – but you all can't just sitting around waiting for the day she may come home. Gabi wouldn't want…"

"Don't tell me what Gabriella would want dad!" Troy explodes, "You don't know her well enough for that."

On the other line Jack Bolton sighs, "Alright son, whatever you say. Your mother and I will stop at the Evans's house later on with breakfast."

Troy nods once to himself, hanging up the phone and sighing as he flops back on this bed the words of his father running through his head. He had said the day she may come home – not the day she will come home. It wasn't bothering Troy that other people were starting to doubt not only the police, but Gabriella as well. What was bothering him was that he was starting to doubt Gabriella.

**Chad's Room**

"Hello you've reached Chadizzles cell, leave a message and I'll ring you later, peace!"'

There was a pause before a soft voice spoke and left the message for Chad, "Hey Chad it's Jared – I was just calling to see if you guys had heard anything." He pauses, "I'll come home as soon as you guys hear anything – call me when you get this to let me know how Dri is…. Bye."

Jared had been at school in California when Gabriella had been taken, and as much as Gabriella was Chad's little sister, she was also Jared's. He wasn't about the let anything happen to her or her daughter.

**Ryan's room**

"Hello," he practically screamed into the phone a second time, he was irritated, his paper was ruined and it was due as soon as they got back to school. Whenever they were forced back to school, he corrects mentally.

He heard nothing and was just about to hang up when the person on the other end cleared their throat and spoke in possibly the hoarsest voice he had ever heard, "Hi."

The voice was scratchy and dry but Ryan knew immediately who it was. Her voice was unique even when it was gruff from being under used. His spirits lifted and he briefly froze. In disbelief he whispered, "Gabi?"

She coughed and his heart broke a little at how feeble she sounded, "Ry," she all but moaned, "help."

He was frantic, immediately throwing his door open and walking toward Sharpay's room, "Gabriella where are you?"

She coughed again and her voice got weaker, "The Lava Springs basement," she rasped.

He knocked hard on her door continually, "Okay, are you alright are you hurt or in pain?"

His sister's angry tear streaked face popped through the door and she hissed, "What?"

Ryan held up his had as he listened for the small voice to come on the other line, putting the phone on speaker so that Sharpay could hear too. "Ry – I don't know how much longer I can last," her voice was hardly a whispers and Sharpay's eyes widened. She reached for the phone but Ryan pulled it away.

"Brie listen to me, you need to hang on okay," he motions to Sharpay, "We're going to call the police and get them to the basement," there was a gasp on the other line, "Gabi."

"Hurry Ryan – hurry," she whispered hastily before hanging up.

The twins stared open mouthed at the phone before looking at each other. Suddenly Sharpay let out the loudest scream she'd ever unleashed.

"EVERYONE UP!"

There were swear words and sounds of doors slamming before everyone was gathered in front of Sharpay and Ryan, Sharpay already yelling into her phone.

"What is it? What's going on?" Chad questions running out of Adri's room, the baby cradled in his arms.

"Gabriella just called me," Ryan says in a daze.

There's silence before the crew of people in front of the blonde twins begins calling out questions.

"QUIET!" Sharpay screams again, she glares at everyone in front of her and demands, "Get dressed, we're going to Lava Springs." She turns without waiting and slams her bedroom door.

The remaining people turn to Ryan as he walks quickly back to his room, "Why are we going to Lava Springs if you just talked to Gabriella?" Taylor screeches.

"Because that's where she's being kept." Ryan calls over his shoulder as he closes his door.

The people all look at each other once, before Sharpay's door opens again and a fully dressed Sharpay storms out, grabbing Adrianna from Chad and demands as she walks away, "Why aren't you all dressed!"

The group jumps, parents included, and run to their separate rooms. It was finally time to bring Gabriella home.

**The Basement of Lava Springs**

As Gabriella hung up the phone she slid it far under the pipes, hoping against hope that the footsteps she heard coming weren't Jake – and if they were that he wouldn't be able to tell what she'd been doing. Her body felt lighter knowing at least that the police would be there soon, that she'd finally done something for herself – gotten herself out of the situation. She was afraid to get her hopes up, because she'd done it before and learned the hard way that sometimes everything could be ripped out from under you with only one mistake.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry about the lack of updating but I'll try and get more done now, the story's almost over and this will be the first story I've ever finished on ! I'll have to celebrate somehow.


	20. Read

I'm really sorry about the lack of updating but starting next week I have AP tests, so it's difficult to find time to update in between my normal day and now adding in intense studying. I'm going to be studying and getting ready of my Senior Ball in the next couple weeks, and I have to prepare for a surgery some time after that – then in June I have a lot going on because I graduate. So while I will try to update as much as possible, it won't b frequent. I'll try and put a schedule below this, it'll just be a rough copy but you'll get the idea.

**Also, important info**: I have up to chapter nine written of As The World Turns and I think this one is only going to turn out being like 12 chapter long, if that. But the sequels should be longer.

Then I have the next update for Vanished written, I just have to find time to type it up. That stories almost over! I'm actually not sure how many more chapters it'll be. It should be a little while longer. Vanished is my first story I'll ever finish on fanfiction!

Trials of Friendship – well there's nothing I can say about this, I don't have writers block on it I just haven't had time to sit down and give the Prom chapter the excellence it deserves, I know exactly where this chapter leads and I need it to be perfect, because the next few chapters in this story set both the sequel and the rest of this story.

**Schedule:** My last AP test is on the 16th of May, until then I will most likely be staying up until midnight studying because I have 5 tests, while also actually going to class. It's a lot to take on.

May 22nd is Ball I will most likely have no issues updating because of this but it's precautionary because sometimes when I stress out it affects my writing.

June 16th Darien Lake June 28th Graduation pretty much everything is in June and I'm not excited for this month – graduation yes – but I'm not good with too much stress.

Surgery I mentioned it, I won't go into detail, I will just say that my surgery should be right after ball. But with the incompetent doctor that is doing my surgery I have no real idea of when it will be, so I'm just going by what he originally told me. The good thing about surgery is the recovery time is one month, so I will get a lot of updates in.

Once again thank you for understanding and I hope everyone enjoys their… month of May! And whatever comes along in that month! And hopefully I'll update before this but if not have a happy June!


	21. The Dead End Call

A/N: I'm really sorry about the lack of updating, I already explained that it would be hard for me to update – but I also ended up breaking my toe… I know I'm really clutzy so I've had pre-op appointments and a ton of other doctor appointment on top of everything else. Graduation is this weekend and my surgery is on Monday so I'll have so much more free time. Thanks for waiting and without further a due…

**Chapter 19- The Dead End Call**

Deserted road, sand covered on both sides, completely dry. In the distance a large building stands on a mountaintop. It was illuminated by the rising sun as it made its way to high noon. All was quiet in the surrounding area until from far away, the sound of sirens could be heard approaching. It was a fast procession but in the span of 1 minute several cars had gone by. First to pass through the now open gates of Lava Springs was six white, red and blue blurs; second was a light pink blur; the third was a longer black one. As the police cars parked in the valet circle, office after officer ran out of the cars, swarming Lava Springs in attempt to get to the basement, as even more cop cars pulled up amidst the ambulance trucks, more cars and helicopters were called in yet. Once the pink convertible jolted to a halt one blonde haze shot out of the drivers seat, intent on following the cops to where she now knew her best friend was being held captive by a psychopath.

"Whoa!" an officer exclaims grabbing her by the waist, "Not so fast!" he announces.

As her friends and family come up behind her, all heavily breathing, Sharpay doesn't stop moving.

"Let me go!" she demands through her struggle.

"Ms. Evans," the officer get out in his attempt to tame her, "Stop."

The two continue to struggle until Sharpay goes limp in his arms, sobbing hysterically, "Why won't you let me see her!" She screeches.

Handing her over to Ryan when he steps forward, the officer gives a sad smile and sighs, "Ms. Evans we're not sure what state Ms. Montez will be in when we find her-"

"I know what state she'll be in!" Sharpay cuts him off, screaming, "I found her after he raped her! I saw it!" she exclaims.

There was a silence in which officer Rushton surveyed the large group of people in front of him. In only one glance he saw the determination they all held to get to the victim. It registered in his mind that he was only one guy and the twenty something people in front of him could – would – stampede over him in order to get to her. There was nothing he could do about that. The older Montez appeared unstable enough and the blonde still glaring at him from her brother's hold was clearly already planning his death. The only thing he could so was offer them another option.

"We've set the paramedics up in the pool area, we're planning on bringing her there, go wait with them," he concedes.

He'd barely finished his statement before they were all running past him and to the enclosed pool area. Officer Rushton sighs, shaking his head and hoping, as he goes back to work, that he'd done the right thing.

Of course, Officer Rushton would soon wish he hadn't let them go to the pool. Soon, he would see the mistake he'd made.

**With The Squad Officers In The Basement**

They rushed out of the cars, armed with guns and bulletproof vests. Scattering, they spilt into groups of six, each taking a different route to the basement door. As they reached it, some crouched low, others stood tall, and after receiving a nod from their superior watched as he kicked the door, allowing it to slam against the wall, and permitting his team to rush in. They swarmed the room, every inch of it covered with squad officers, guns ready.

It only took a minute until it registered that the room, where the victim was supposedly being held captive, was completely empty.

**Thirty Minutes Earlier – With Gabriella**

'Please don't be him, Please don't be him' she thinks frantically.

The footsteps pounding quickly down the stairs were growing closer and faster – the person clearly in a hurry.

"Get up!" a deep voice demands. Her heart sank; it was him, "Get up!" he screams kicking her sharply in the stomach.

She gasps and places a protective arm over her stomach. She felt him unclip one of her handcuffs, her arm almost dropping to the floor like dead weight. He connected both her wrists behind her back; she winced at the pain as he stood her up. He legs felt like jelly – she couldn't even hold up her own body weight, and she knew that if he let go she would have collapsed. Jake didn't wait for the battered brunette to attempt to gain her balance before he was dragging her toward the stairs.

"Someone's coming down here to check the plumbing – we need to hurry."

Gabriella's heart stopped for a moment before her mind went into overdrive. If, and this was a very ify situation, he managed to get her out of this basement, out of Lava Springs before someone saw, she would never get home – everyone now thought she was in the Lava Springs Basement.

He pulled her out the door, after checking to see the hallway was empty, and dragged her down to the end of the hallway. He stopped, using a hand to cover her mouth as footsteps sounded down the long empty hallway, his back was against the wall, one arm securely around Gabriella's waist, holding her to him.

'Please,' Gabriella prayed silently, her eyes clenched tightly shut; 'Let them help me.'

Only when she heard he door close id she allow a part of her heart to break. She suddenly felt something pressed against her temple, and froze at the feel of cool metal. He was going to kill her.

"Try anything," he whispers breathlessly in her ear, "And I'll shoot you." He kisses her neck once, licking a little, causing her to shudder and pull away. He gives a throaty laugh, "Oh Gabriella," he breaths running his nose into her neck, "Don't you worry – we'll be together soon, without all the interference." Gabriella squeezed her eyes shut as his hands roamed her body, his lips sucking at her neck, "Don't you worry," he whispers again pressing his front into her back. She shuddered and whimpered feeling his erection. He smiled against her neck and pushes them both off the wall, towards the door. Using his foot he opens it, then stopping it from slamming shut before he continues on. He enters a string of trees and bushes that were just tall enough and full enough to hide them from view. As he pulled her through the shrubbery her heart sank the closer and closer they got to the gate, the more she starts to realize that she's truly gone from this place – she's gone.

They started out quiet, and Gabriella had to strain to hear them. At first, she'd thought it was her imagination – she was so desperate to get away that she was so desperate to get away that she was hearing things. But when Jake swore under his breath and the cars came into view, she knew.

Cop car after cop car arrived, blue suits swarming the building within seconds. There was no way to escape right now. But that was no longer Gabriella's focus. No, her focus had shifted to the pink convertible and the long black stretch limo that pulled up Gabriella couldn't take her eyes of them – or her blonde best friend that was heading straight toward her and was being held only several feet away. She listened to the argument, her eyes traveling over the disarrayed group of people standing in front of the officer. Her eyes zoned in on Troy, disbelief filling her while body. They had to have told him, he wouldn't be here otherwise. She wondered briefly how he had dealt with the news. Had he been like Chad? Full of disbelief but compassionate? Or had he been Zeke? Trying to make it seem like nothing ever happened?

"We've set the paramedics up in the pool area, we're planning on bringing her there, go wait with them," the officer concedes.

Gabriella could practically feel the change in Jake's body, she didn't have to see his smirk to know that something was going on.

"Oh you'll go to the pool area alright," he murmurs in a dark voice, "You just won't be showing up the way they think."

He laughed manically and Gabriella felt a familiar sinking sensation in her stomach, would it ever end?


	22. Hide And No Seek

A/N: I am soo sorry, again no excuses for this, but I hope that everyone will forgive me for my lack of updating. I'm almost done with this story and I plan on giving it more of my attention in the next couple weeks so that I can finish it.

**Chapter 21- Hide and No Seek**

Her brown eyes glided over the fenced in pool area, there wasn't one area that wasn't surrounded by paramedics. The space to their immediate left was where Gabriella would be brought, they had a stretcher, a large first aid kit and several different drugs. Across from them was an area for body temperature problems, everything was laid out - if any of that was needed it would be brought over to Gabriella.

Sharpay shifted uncomfortably, they'd been standing in silence for the last five minutes. Chad had taken to staring at the radio that would give conformation to when they found Gabriella, Troy was staring at the door she would come through, Zeke was staring at the life guard chair that Gabriella had spent the summer of her sophomore year sitting in and Ryan was staring blankly off into the distance. Everyone else seemed to be doing what Sharpay was, scanning the area to see the array of supplies that was being offered to the girl they all loved.

'Love,' Sharpay corrects herself, 'the girl we all love.'

She closes her eyes almost painfully. Never before had she doubted Gabriella, so why was she starting to now? Did it seem to her that the connect between the two girls had faded in the last weeks? She'd be lying to herself if she said Gabriella's presence was as strong as it had been when she was first taken. In fact Sharpay had moments where she couldn't feel that her best friend and sister was still out there. That was what scared her more then anything, because Gabriella always had a strong presence and it had faded so much that the blonde wondered what state they would find Gabriella in.

"She'll be okay you know," a deep voice spoke through the silence. Everyone turned to look at Jack Bolton, staring at him as though he were speaking a foreign language, but the basketball coach only had eyes for the blonde drama queen in front of him. "I can see what your doing Sharpay, and you more then any of us know what Gabriella has been through, you know what she's handled, do you think this will be enough to take her away from us? Away from Ari?"

Sharpay's eyes filled with tears, "No," she says hoarsely, "No I don't," she pauses, "I'm more worried about the state she'll be brought back in. I saw her after she was raped Coach, I saw what he did to her. And I'm not sure if she'll be able to come back from it this time."

He gives the blonde a small smile, "That's what she has you for - to pull her through it kicking and screaming."

A small silence followed the private conversation that had taken place in front of several families. No one had seen Sharpay break yet, and Ryan admits to himself that this is as close as she'll come to falling apart - or at least until Gabriella was back. He watched as a tear slide down her cheek and carefully took her pale, shaking hand in his, clutching it tightly - passing on his strength. She didn't acknowledge the gesture or the tear on her face except to squeeze his hand just as tightly back.

There was static coming from the radio and Chad jumped, leaning forward more towards it as though they all couldn't hear the devastating words that were spoken.

"We've reached the basement. Victim is not here, I repeat the victim is not here."

There was an eerie silence that followed the chiefs voice before, "WHAT!" Sharpay and Ryan flinched noticeably, Maria Montez had finally cracked. They shuffled close behind her as she stormed over to the receiving cop. She grasped tightly to his collar bringing the man to her face, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S NOT DOWN THERE!"

Sharpay flinched again, "Maria," she hesitated putting a hand on her arm, "Come on Auntie M," she smiles slightly at the nickanme, "Let him down."

The brunette mother glares once more at the frightened man before she let go of his shirt and stood in a stance similar to her daughters, hands firmly planted on her hips, "Where is my daughter."

"Right here."

The voice that answered wasn't the cop in front of them, in fact that voice made Sharpay cringe and want to punch something at the same time. Slowly the large group turned and it was impossible for Sharpay to stop the gasp from escaping her lips.

In front of them stood Jake Sheppard, and with the gun he held planted firmly against her head, a weak Gabriella Montez in his arms. Glancing over the brunette, Sharpay took notice of the averted eyes, they stared down at the ground, she quickly surveyed the long cascading curls to see they were tangled, and covered in dirt, grim and blood, she had several bald patches scattered throughout her hair line. The blonde saw the hand prints that spotted her neck, moving down to her torso and arms Sharpay could clearly see one of her arms, despite the fact that they were handcuffed, was broken and both were turning yellow, with even more bruising on top. Her torso was only covered by a thin pajama tank top, but the little skin you could see was the tops of her breasts, and Sharpay flinched at the obvious finger marks and scratches that were present there. Her eyes scanned down, passing the small amount of bruised skin below her tank top, right above the tight black shorts she'd been wearing. They barely covered anything, leaving her legs almost completely bare - both were bruised so badly that it appeared her skin was purple, her left one had a long gash down the side, dried blood around it (if Sharpay could guess she would say it was infected). Her right leg was swollen around her knee and ankle and both her right and left feet were covered in blood ,dirt and grim.

While Sharpay had taken a silent inventory of her best friend, four of the guys behind her pushed there way to the front, each taking several step toward Gabriella until Sheppard smirked and pressed the gun more into her temple, causing Gabriella to wince visibly. "Take another step and I'll shoot her." His voice rang through the silent pool area.

Something inside Sharpay snapped and she stepped in front of the boys, glaring into the green eyes that laughed at her, "You wouldn't shoot her, because then you'd have nothing to get you out of here alive."

He laughed harshly, "Did you hear that Ella," he moved her weirdly and Gabriella winced, causing Sharpay to flinch, "The blonde poodle doesn't think I'll shoot you. Why don't you tell her you disagree?" Sharpay inhaled, waiting for the sweet voice she'd been dieing to hear to speak up, or to even look up from the ground so that she would see her beautiful face. When she did neither the blonde's heart sunk, it was worse then she'd feared. The green eyed boy laughed again, it was maniacal and a shiver ran through the group, "You misunderstood me Ella, I wasn't giving you an option," he jabbed the gun harder into her temple and Gabriella's whole body tensed in response, her head appearing to become even heavier, "I was telling you too look up and see the friends and family that have gathered here to watch you die."

It was like something out of horror film, as Gabriella slowly lifted her head and showed herself to the people in the pool area, Sharpay let out a loud sob. The face they were looking at held very little resemblance to the gorgeous girl she'd seen weeks ago. Her face was bruised and swollen almost so that it seemed unrecognizable, both lips were bloodied and split, one of her eyes was sealed shut, her nose was visibly broken and the skin that wasn't covered by bruises was pale and sunken. Her dazed, blood red eyes met the pair that was normally so similar to her own as she tried to convey some sort of comfort to the blonde.

"Shar," an unnaturally deep, scratchy voice that seemed as though it was torn from her best friend's normally gifted throat sounded, and with tears now freely down her beautiful face, Sharpay shook her head.

"Shhh Brie, it's okay you don't have to talk," She was sobbing, staring at her broken best friend.

A growl escaped Chad and Troy's lips, both angered by the appearance of the girl they loved (in two different ways) as all the cops arrived in the area, pointing there guns at the kidnapper and consequentially his hostage.

Jake Sheppard laughed again, "You point your guns at me, but everyone here knows your not going to shoot me." He jerks Gabriella, "I have leverage - one that everyone in that group over there," he nods his head toward the Wildcats, "Will kill you if you hurt."

There's a silence before Maria Montez steps forward, "What do you want?" She asks softly, staring at her broken daughter.

Jake smirks, the hand around Gabriella's waist lightly skimming the front of her jeans, Gabriella flinches as Maria tenses, "Well Mrs. Montez, you see at first, I just wanted your daughter." he bends his head down and kisses her neck, ignoring the whimper or protest, "But now that I've had her, I just want her to suffer. Suffer like I did the summer she ignored me, I loved her - and she couldn't stand to be near me."

"Please," Maria whispers, "Let her go… Please."

Jake laughs again, the sound echoing and seeming even scarier, "Never… never. - because she's mine now. She's had my daughter," he pauses, "Speaking of where is the little brat? She should be here to say goodbye to her parents." he pauses again, "It's a shame the only time I saw her was when I was beating her mother. It's was her I went to the house for you know," he smirks when everyone in front of him gasps in shock, "Yes I know," he says with fake sympathy, "Gabriella didn't need to be hurt, she didn't even need to be brought here with me. But she just wouldn't let me take my daughter. So I figured why try and take the brat when I could get the better thing -"

It was so sudden that no one had seen it coming. While Jake was ranting on and on Troy had taken several unnoticeable steps closer to the pair - to a distance where he could throw himself directly at Jake and be able to miss Gabriella when he caught Jake from the side. When he was close enough he positioned himself so that he could jump at Jake, his arms around his waist. Which is what he did, the impact causes the two boys to move away from Gabriella and to the floor, being to weak to stand on her own Gabriella collapsed below them. No one moved, most of them looked to afraid to breath, watching the two boys struggle with the gun.

"Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed as loud as she could.

The sound of her voice snapped everyone out of there trances and they all watched in horror as the gun that was hidden between the two men came more into sight, firing once before being pulled further in between them. It was in slow motion, Troy was on the ground on his back, Jake on top of him as the gun was fired. No one moved, staring at the two perfectly still boys - and no one noticed the missing brunette.


	23. Take Away The Pain

**Chapter 22- Take Away The Pain**

The doors to Albuquerque General Hospital burst open as a group of frantic ambulance workers rush into the ER.

"We're losing them! Hurry up!"

Doctors swarm the stretcher as the group of people from Lava Springs runs in behind them, "What's happening?" one of them asks frantically.

"Patients coding! Code blue code blue!" a doctor says as they rush the person into a room.

"No!" one of the girls screams, "Tell us what's going on!" she sob.

"We're sorry," one of the nurses says, "But you're all going to have to stay out here, this is a serious matter and we need all the space we can get." She turns to one of the other in the group, "Maybe you should get checked out," she suggests kindly.

The blue eyed boy who she was talking to looked up at her with dead eyes, "It's not my blood," he says knowing she was referring to the blood on his shirt.

**Flashback**

It had taken 5 seconds before Lucille Bolton screamed and rushes toward her immobile son. Everyone gathered around quickly, watching as she shook him. Collectively they all breathed a sigh of relief when Troy coughed, and pushed himself off of Jake. Kelsi screamed at the amount of blood on his shirt and ambulance workers surrounded him, intent on finding where it was coming from.

"It's not mine!" he yells breathlessly, "It's not mine."

In one swift movement everyone turned to look at Jake. His body was lifeless, already pale at the amount of blood he lost. He'd yet to move or make a sound and Sharpay was too afraid to feel hopeful that maybe this was all over. Chad took several steps forward, bending down against his mother's protest, to put two fingers to his neck.

"He's dead," he whispers in disbelief. He surveys the boy's body, "I think the bullet went through his heart."

"Or the place where his heart should be," Sharpay mumbles in disbelief.

One of the paramedics walks over ad double checks for Chad, and then he nods, "He's gone. Time of death, glancing at his watch he says 10:15 a.m."

Silence, and then a cheer goes up, Sharpay – finally believing that the person who had tormented her sister was dead turned with a bright smile on her face to the spot she had watched in horror where Gabriella collapsed.

All it took was one look for her to see Gabriella was not there, then another look to see where she was, "OH MY GOD!" she screeched.

Everyone turned to look and stifled a gasp as Chad and Troy, both thinking quickly stood and jumped into the pool. Gabriella Montez had floated to the bottom of the water, a trail of blood leading from the surface where she was submerged to the path she took to the bottom where she lay brokenly. The Wildcats watched in horror as Chad and Troy both grasped her limp body and swam as fast as they could to the surface, together they gently pushed her on to the outer edge of the pool, both soaking wet as they pulled themselves out and joined the group crowded around her.

"She's not breathing!" the paramedic closest to her exclaimed quickly grabbing the needing equipment.

They frantically pumped air into her mouth, then continuing the CPR as another paramedic checks her over.

"Gunshot wound to the stomach, most likely causes internal bleeding, the water slowed down the blood flow but she'll need a transfusion before we can get her into surgery."

"If I can get her breathing again," one other paramedic grumbles as he presses down on her chest.

There's a small cough and water spews from Gabriella's mouth, "Alright hurry up, load her into the ambulance."

"Wait!" Sharpay called desperately.

"Albuquerque General!" one of them calls over their shoulder.

Sharpay frowns, tears freely streaming down her face, "How much more can she take!" Sharpay exclaims heavenward. "Why her! What did she ever do!" She screams.

"Shar," Zeke says quietly, "Come on – let's go to the hospital."

Turning and watching as the cops zip the body bag with Jake Shepard in it, she feels dread. As they run to their cars Sharpay falls into a sprint with Troy, turning to him.

"Thank you Troy." She whispers, "Thank you."

**End Flashback**

With all the stresses of the last couple weeks finally coming down on her small shoulders Sharpay collapses on the floor, sobbing her heart out as she hears the commotion going on inside the room where her sister lay. The group behind her watches silently as any strength the blonde had disappeared, the ones who had never seen her cry watched in fascination as the girl they had called the Ice Queen melted right before them. Maria Montez was being held by Mr. Danforth as she sobbed for her little girl in his arms, Chad's mother and Lisa Evans beside her, tears running down their face as they attempt to comfort their best friend.

Chad steps forward, taking Sharpay in his arms, "Shar be strong. You need to be strong for Gabi, for Adri – that little girl needs you."

"I don't know if I have any strength left," she sobs to Chad.

He pulls away from her, his hands grasping her arms, "Look at me Sharpay," he demands until her brown eyes find his, "I never did like you. But I guess I always admired you – even more when I saw how you were there for my little sister and her daughter," he sighs, "I love Gabriella just as much as you do, you know that – so right now, because I know this is what she would want and I know she would be here if she could, I'm going to be here for you – we're going to support each other, going to be strong together. For Gabi and Adri."

Sharpay cries become louder but less hysterical as she looks at Chad, the sound eventually dies but the tears continue to steadily fall from her eyes, "What's going to happen to her?"

_'What's going to happen to us if she doesn't make it?'_

Chad understood the hidden question, unsure if many others did; he stared into Sharpay's brown eyes and gave his honest answer, "I don't know."

The Wildcat gang behind them watched as two people who never got along, who couldn't see eye to eye comforted each other. Sharpay finding a brotherly solstice in Chad's arms and Chad finding that holding Sharpay was like holding Gabriella. They were connected by the girl they both thought of as a sister and the daughter she had that they both would do anything to protect.


	24. It Never Ends

**Chapter 23- It Never Ends**

_Coma. Coma._

"What do you mean she's in coma!" Sharpay explains, pulling slightly at her already disarrayed hair.

"Well Ms. Evans this was to be expected, especially after the trauma she's gone through the last couple of weeks. I would have been surprised if she hadn't fallen into a coma." The doctor replied honestly, "In fact with the amount of trauma to her head I'm surprised she hadn't already been in a coma."

It had been eight hours since they brought Gabriella to the hospital. After they had revived her, which had been a long and dreadful ten minute wait, they gave her a blood transfusion before they finally considered taking her into surgery. They'd done some testing and discovered multiple areas of internal bleeding, the most harmful coming from the gunshot wound, and had managed to find a small, almost undetectable brain bleed – one that would have been undetected until the person started to experience side effects. She ended up with several bones in her arm that needed to be set, and more than 3 torn muscles or ligaments in her leg, from her knee down to her ankle that would be corrected later with surgery. As the surgery for the internal bleeding was priority, when she was almost fully recovered they would reconstruct her leg muscles.

That being said, after they found out the problems they worked quickly and efficiently to find out a solution that would give Gabriella the best chance of surviving. During the 5 hour procedure it had been touch and go, for a while they weren't sure if Gabriella would make it through surgery.

**Flashback**

She was pacing again, down and back down and back – Troy was anxiously biting his lip to stop himself from saying anything to the blonde princess. He looked nervously done at the borrowed blue scrub bottoms a nurse had given him. It had been two hours since Gabriella went into surgery and they had yet to hear anything. He was convincing himself that no news was good news – he remembered hearing that on some medical show at some point. He looked up again, she was still pacing.

"Would you just stop already!" he finally snapped.

She turned fast, glaring at him with her beady brown eyes, "No I will not stop."

Zeke threw Troy a warning glance, "Your incessant pacing is annoying me almost as much as you do on a regular basis!" which he apparently ignored.

Sharpay growled and Chad jumped up, placing a hand on her arm, "Whoa okay here guys, let's not argue. We're all here for the same reason – we all love Gabi and she would want us all here, comforting each other, not biting one another's heads off," he directed the last part pointedly at Sharpay.

She frowns, "All of us, besides one, love Gabriella." She looks at Troy, "Others of us, think that love constitutes calling someone a whore and a slut."

Chad frowns, "Shar!"

"Shut up!" Ryan hisses as the doors from the surgery wing swing open.

The doctor looked familiar and the girls in the group tried not to throw up at the unusual amounts of blood on his scrubs.

"Are you the family and friends of Gabriella Montez?"

Maria stood, and nodded as everyone else waited on baited breathes, "I'm her mother."

"You may want to-"

"Whatever you're going to say to me you can say in front of all of them," she interrupts firmly.

Frowning a little the doctor nods, "Alright, well I thought I would come out here and tell you that this is going to take a lot longer than we thought. As you know Gabriella was more stable, when we took her into surgery. Even with the extra transfusions, she's flat-lined twice and her breathing is shallow at best. I'm sorry to be the one to inform you that the head surgeon is doubtful that she will make it through the surgery."

**End Flashback**

She'd obviously made it through the surgery, but at what cost?

"How long will she be in this coma doctor?" Chad asks hesitantly.

"We're unsure of the length at this time," he answers, "It could be days, weeks, or months," he provides, "but as it was unlikely that she would make it through this surgery she will be monitored closely for the next two weeks. I would like to caution you all – that if by the time the two weeks is up, she has not awoken, it is unlikely that she ever will."

"Two weeks?" Kelsi asks in a small voice, "Your only giving her two weeks?"

Smiling softly at the almost adult, the doctor answers gently, "I'm sorry if this sounds harsh – but I'm being optimistic."

_Hidden meaning: we're not expecting her to make it through the night._

"No," Troy says adamantly as the doctor walks away, "They didn't think she would live through the surgery, and she did – now they don't think she'll wake up before the two weeks is up, they obviously don't know Gabriella Montez."

"And you think you do?" someone whispers harshly.

Troy takes a step back from the angry blonde, "Umm well we uhh…"

"You dated Bolton – until you acted like a douche bag and ditched her for me. Then even after you got back together and I left you alone, you still weren't a good boyfriend. Wouldn't a good boyfriend notice that his girlfriend flinched whenever he touched her, that she sometimes cried when you would kiss her?" She blonde let a few tears fall, "You don't know her at all – you never knew her. The only thing you knew about her was that she was the "freaky math girl" how understood you like no one else, too bad the feeling wasn't reciprocated." There was a strained silence, "Now if you'll all excuse me, I have a goddaughter to take care of at home."

Abruptly she turned and raced out the hospital doors. Chad watched, with a frown on his face, his concern clear as he watched her run without once looking back.

"She's just scared," Ryan tells him, "She doesn't know what to do with Gabi in coma, it was different when she was missing – she wasn't here. Now she's here, but she's not."

Taylor's brow furs, "What's she going to do."

Ryan shrugs, "Deny it until it gets to be really late, she would probably just pretend this wasn't happening if I didn't plan on making her and Dri com here if Gabi doesn't wake up."

"What's going to happen to Adrianna if Gabriella-" Lucille didn't finish her sentence, and she knew that she didn't have too, everyone understood what she was trying to say.

Chad's father still held Maria tightly, an arm wrapped protectively around her shoulder, he squeezed her arm when he saw her glance cautiously toward Lisa Evans. Everyone knew that no matter what happened to Gabriella, Sharpay would in no way want to be separated from Adri – but they also knew it wasn't possible for Sharpay to care for her, no matter how much her or Ryan wanted it.

"We'll cross that bring when – if," Lisa Evans corrects, "we come to it, okay Ducky?"

Nodding to his mother, Ryan can't help but glance to the room where Gabriella lay, "Can I go first?"

When he received the affirmative he walked slowly but purposely to the door, tentatively laying his hand on it and turning.

* * *

A/N: weird place to end it I know, but another update should be up soon, I'm actually going to start typing it now.


	25. Ryan's Mini Meltdown

**Chapter 24- Ryan's Mini Meltdown**

Ryan Evans had seen a lot of terrible things in his lifetime. He'd seen some pretty bad acting when he and his twin sister had briefly done community theater – Sharpay hadn't lasted more than two weeks. He'd seen the time when Sharpay had thought it would be cute to try doing her own highlights – her hair had turned blue. He'd seen the world trade center collapse, from his TV – and had survived hurricane Katrina, safely from his house in Albuquerque. Ryan Evans had seen a lot of things yes, but he hadn't lived some of them. When he walked into Gabriella's hospital room Ryan Evans was shocked, scared, upset and for the first time since Gabriella had been captured, doubtful.

"Oh god," he whispers to her still form, "Gab what did that monster do to you."

Gabriella lay, her skin gray and waxy, her hair limp and fanned onto the pillow, she had several tubes sticking out of her mouth and nose, her face and body were badly bruised. Even after she was raped Ryan had never seen her look as small, as vulnerable, as she did now.

He promised himself that he wouldn't cry that he would let everything out, but not in the form of tears. Gabriella hated tears.

**Flashback**

Glancing once around the corner, he took in the sight of her, allowing his eyes to discreetly roam her body.

"I'm fine Ryan," she called down the empty hallway.

He jumped; unaware that she had known he was watching her. He clears his throat, stepping out from behind the wall and starting to walk toward her, "I never said you weren't," he answers nonchalantly.

She rolls her eyes, "You sneaking around and watching me the whole day implies that you think I'm hiding something – but you already know about _that._ So you sneaking around and watching me must be on Sharpay's orders because she thinks I'm going to snap and start balling if when she's not around."

Ryan's standing next to her now as she faces her locker and shrugs, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She slams her door shut and he flinches when her dead brown eyes turn to him, "You're a good actor Ry – but a terrible liar. You don't think I can't tell Shar's worried about me?"

"Can you blame her?" he whispered quietly, searching her eyes for a familiar spark.

She stares at him for a minute, before sighing and looking down, "Don't think I don't know what your looking for," she whispers.

He frowns, "What are you-"

"Sharpay does it, your mother does it, your father does it, hell my own mother does it and she has no idea what's going on," taking a deep breath Gabriella continues, "I know what my eyes look like. You don't think that I look in the mirror everyday wishing I could just… feel something. That I could stop seeing this, gray film over my eyes and see everything clearly again?" It took Ryan a few seconds to figure out she was crying. He attempted to pull her into his arms but she pushed him away. "I can see you all flinch when you look at me. I can see you all looking, waiting for my eyes to be bright again." She was slightly hysterical as she admitted this, "I DON'T KNOW WHEN THAT WILL HAPPEN!" she stopped again, tears freely falling down her face as she looks up, her eyes looking past Ryan, "I don't know if it will ever happen." She whispered.

Ryan finally grabbed her; pulling her close to his chest and feeling her tears soak his shirt, "hey hey shhhh," he consoled, "Listen to me Gabriella," he pulls away from her slightly so that he can look into her eyes, he does so without flinching, "You will get through this. You will be able to see clearly again."

She cried some more, "When Ry? When?"

Looking at her sadly, he admits, "I don't know sweetie. I just don't know."

**End Flashback**

She's cried a little longer, and directly after had admitted that since the attack, she had come to hate crying – whether it be her or someone else. He'd made it his duty to make sure no one cried around her from then on.

The blonde boy sat on the chair beside her bed, his hand tightly grasping her pale, relaxed one. '_Just squeeze my hand. Please just squeeze my hand.'_

He was desperate. He always thought that people in movies, who held vigil at someone's bedside, who got excited when the person squeezed their hand were delusional. The doctor's always told them that it was a fluke – that sometimes the muscles spasm. And here he was, sitting next to his adopted sister bedside, wishing for a muscle spasm, something to show that some part of her was still alive.

Even the annoying beeping sound couldn't help much. Because while Ryan knew that was what kept her alive, her couldn't be happy that she was ultimately dependent on a machine. Gabriella hated depending on anyone or anything.

"Shar's going crazy Gab," he whispers, "She's pretending that this isn't happening, I know her – I may not be able to get her to come back here." Pausing he swallows, looking around and feeling foolish, "And that's not what you need. What you need is for everyone you love and everyone who loves you to be here…" he begins to feel more comfortable, leaning in closer like he's telling her a secret, "between you and me, even though Sharpay would disagree, I think Troy has a right to be here – he loves you Gabs." There was no reaction, but Ryan knew that she was probably glaring at him in her mind, if she could hear him. Tears in his eyes Ryan squeezes Gabriella's hand, "Please Brie, please – just wake up."

**End Ryan's Time**

**Somewhere Dark**

"Hello?" The scared, quiet voice called.

She could hear an annoying beeping, wishing it would just shut up – or that someone would come in and tell her what was going on. Gabriella couldn't open her eyes, she'd tried several times, but she couldn't. She was afraid, in her mind knowing that it was possible when she did open her eyes she could still be with Jake. She remembers, very little about what went on before she entered this comforting, but scary black land. She saw nothing but darkness, wait…. A door! She heard a door open and close; she heard a faint, muffled whisper in a voice that she was sure was vaguely familiar.

She felt a warm hand placed in her own, and fought the reflex to jump. There was silence for a while in which Gabriella figured the mystery man, she could tell by the feel of his hand, was thinking to himself, allowing himself to adjust to seeing her in the atrocious state she was sure she looked. She was sure she'd felt a single water drop fall on her hand – but couldn't be sure. The grip on her hand suddenly tightened to the fact where it would have been painful if Gabriella wasn't numb to the pain.

"Shar's going crazy Gabs," she heard a broken voice say.

It was Ryan. Gabriella in her mind started to feel dread. It had taken RYAN several minutes to start talking to her; he was always calm, so collected – if he was upset, if he couldn't handle seeing her like this she didn't want to know how terrible she looked. She had no doubt that crazy wasn't even a word you could use to describe her right now. Lost in her own thoughts of the best friend she was leaving high and dry Gabriella briefly heard Troy's name but couldn't make herself listen to what Ryan was saying about him. She felt him squeeze her hand again.

"Please Brie, please – just wake up," she heard him cry.

_'I'm trying Ry,' she thought desperately, wanting nothing more than to open her eyes, 'I really am trying.'_


	26. Stuck In A World Of Sacred Voices

A/N: So my first week as a college freshman was a success, I guess. Haha I get along well with my roommate and I love most of my classes. My English composition teacher is freaking crazy, like literally I think he's mentally unstable. Has anyone ever seen UP? Because he sounds like the "alpha" dog before they fixed his voice transmitter. Anyways, my roommates out for the night and the friends I have here besides her all went home for the weekend so since I'm not a HUGE partier and don't really feel 100% I'm in my dorm for the night, I'll either update bunches or do some and watch a movie my new favs are Push and 17 Again, like I'm badly obsessed with both! Anddd I recently discovered online shopping; idk if anyone's read my profile but I LOVE shopping, so as you can imagine this is a very very bad thing. is kind of the best store known to man. =)

I kind of hope I make more friends so I'll have people to hand out with but eh I'm not too stressed my friends aren't gonna go home EVERY weekend. And if they do I may strangle them =)

**Chapter 25-Stuck In A World Of Sacred Voices**

"They sure know how to make a girl feel welcome huh Ella?" Chad Danforth asks as he sits in the recently vacated chair next to her bed. Ryan had walked out of the room in a daze, immediately after seeing him like that people had backed off, not wanting to see what had causes Ryan to look pale and dreadful. But Chad took his turn, knowing that she needed a "sibling" and as Sharpay was currently in denial, he had to step up. He'd walked into the room, looked at her and closed his eyes, before ignoring everything else except the fact he could practically feel her beside him. "I mean, you got your scratchy bed sheet, holey comforter, stinky room – it kinda smells like moldy cheese." He smiled, imagining her giggle.

His smile faded when he looked at her pallid face, any trace of laughter leaving his own slightly clammy skin. "I don't know what to do here Gabs," he sighs, "We're all kind of lost without you." Shaking his head, "Ryan's outside practically catatonic, Zeke's pacing trying to figure out how to get Sharpay back here because she's pretending that your taking a nap, your mother hasn't stopped crying, Kelsi's just been sitting on Jason's lap staring into space not blinking, Jason stares at the ground, Troy's been sitting with his eyes closed against the wall since the doctor told us you were in a coma and Taylor…" he managed a small smile, "Tay and I made up." Sighing he runs a hand over his face, "I know you've been telling me to talk to her since I found out about the rape. But I guess I was afraid of how she would react, I knew I'd treated her pretty badly – treated you pretty badly and I wasn't sure if she could forgive me for that. Since you went missing I kind of decided that I would channel my inner you and worked up the courage to talk to her." He squeezed the hand he held in his grasp, "I have you to thank for the fact that I got her in the first place, and now I have you to thank for the fact that I got her back when I was stupid enough to let her go." Pausing and clearing his throat in attempt to dislodge the lump that had formed he said firmly, "So you have to wake up Gabs. You have to because I haven't gotten a chance to return the favor."

**In Gabriella's mind**

"So you have to wake up Gabs. You have to because I haven't gotten a chance to return the favor."

She frowns to herself '_I'm trying to wake up!'_ glaring at the Chad in her mind she continues, '_and it only takes me getting kidnapped and going into a come for you to talk to Taylor. The next time you screw up I'm trying something less dramatic.'_

She was talking to herself while in a coma – she knew she'd lose her mind from being holed up in that basement. There was something good happening though since she first had woken up in this black land – well technically it was good. She was becoming more aware of her body. It no longer felt like just her brain was present. But the bad part was, she could feel everything all the aches and pains – her body felt more like it had been run over 6 times and then sewed back together then a body.

If anything she wished she could open her eyes or her mouth just so she could scream at them to give her some drugs for the pain.

**In Gabriella's hospital room**

It had been several minutes since Chad had said anything, his head a lolling slightly forward, almost falling on Gabriella's mattress, when the door opened and he saw a shadow.

"Hey," the voice was hoarse but Chad could tell it was Troy.

'_Nooo!' Gabriella thought, 'He can't be here right now.'_

"Oh, uhh hey Troy." Chad said, frowning slightly at the broken girl on the bed, "I was just uhh."

"About to fall asleep on Gabi?" Troy offers with a weak smile as he stares at the girl in front of him from his place at the end of her bed.

'_I'd rather have him fall asleep on me then you call me a whore,' Gabriella thinks bitterly._

Rubbing the back of his neck Chad yawns, "I'm just a little tired."

Shrugging Troy offers, "I can stay in here with her while you go get some sleep."

'_Chad if you leave me alone with Troy I'll never forgive you.'_

Chad frowns, glancing once at Gabriella, "I don't know…"

'_Good boy.' She thinks in satisfaction._

Troy clears his throat, "Taylor went and slept in one of the on-call rooms, the nurse offered it up to us, so I mean everyone's pretty much there and you've been up for like 24 hours straight so…"

Sighing Chad nods, "Yeah okay."

'_NOOOOOO!!,' she feels his hand leave her grasp and so badly wishes she could squeeze the life out of it, 'I hate you Chad Danforth.'_

"I'll be back Ella," he whispers leaning over to kiss her forehead, "I love you."

'_If you loved me you wouldn't leave me alone with this asshole,' she thinks to herself angrily._

There's a shuffling around as the two boys awkwardly move around each other, both still unsure of where the relationship they once had currently stands, "Uhh if anything happens will you come get us?" Chad asks uncertainly.

Troy nods, "Of course man."

'_Chad when I die and it's with him you're going to feel horrible,' she thinks still angry._

Frowning slightly Chad leaves the room as Troy sits in the seat where he had been just a few seconds ago. He slips his hand into Gabriella's and jumps at the coldness.

'_Oh so now you want to touch me? What happened to me being a nasty slut,' she thinks bitterly, really wanting to slap him._

"Hi Gabi," he whispers as he clears his throat, "Uhh, god this is weird."

'_Well sorry I can't make you more comfortable.' _

He was silent for a moment, trying to convey what he wanted to say to her in words, "I umm, I really got to send some time with Adrianna these last couple of weeks," pausing Troy whispers, "She's pretty amazing."

'_Stupid asshole. Why are they letting you spend time with MY daughter who you called a bastard?'_

"She really needs you, she's always looking around for you or staring at this picture of you Sharpay put in her room." He sighs, "Whenever I see her, all I can picture is after I found out you had a daughter, and you on the floor crying."

_Shivering Gabriella smirks, nodding her head, 'Good. You should see the damage you did to me that day'_

"I feel terrible," he admits, "I wouldn't let you explain and… I shouted at you." He sighs, running his free hand over his face, "God did I shout at you," he frowns, "And then I remember feeling like a complete ass after Chad told me what happened. I remember telling myself that I was worse than the guy who had raped you," shaking his head Troy continues, "I got to your house and I saw the wreck… I had no idea what to do, the only thing I could think of was get Adri out of that crib and call the police."

'_You were the one who found her?' Gabriella thinks in confusion, 'why were you coming to my house?'_

"I was coming to apologize, to tell you I wanted to hear your story," he laughs bitterly, "Imagine my surprise when I walk into a blood bath."

'_I don't know if I would have listened to you,' Gabriella admits nonchalantly, 'and I may have kicked you out,' she allows_

"I don't even know if you would have listened to me!" Troy exclaims with a little laugh, "I wouldn't have been surprised if you kicked me out." He sighs, "It was what I deserved."

'_Good boy.' She thinks with a smirk._

"I don't even know what I would have said to you," he whispers to himself now, "On the off chance that you let me in, or decided to at least, hear me out."

'_Can't dwell on something that didn't happen.'_

"I think," he hesitates, "That I would have started off immediately telling you that I was sorry. And not just for the things I'd said that day – but for not noticing ahead of time that something was wrong. For not seeing that you were slowly withdrawing more and more into yourself until it was too late."

'_Not your fault buddy we all make mistakes.'_

"And I would have asked you why you didn't tell me…" he pauses, turning to look back at her instead of out the window, "Why didn't you? I was your boyfriend, we were in love…" he whispers, "So why?" He stares at her as though expecting an answer, "I don't think we've even began to scratch the surface of things I should be saying to you – I don't think I've even begun to apologize enough." Licking his lips, he watches her face, hoping for any sign if movement, "I never stopped loving you," he whispers, "I still love you – even when I thought you'd cheated on me I still loved you." He pauses again and whispers, so quietly that no one besides a comatose Gabriella could hear, "But the question is do you still love me."

'_Yes,' she whispers tearfully in her mind, 'I do still love you.'_

In The On Call Room

When Chad walks into the on call room he's met with a sight he doesn't expect to see. The girls are asleep on one bed, Kelsi and Taylor holding on to each other tightly. Maria lay, he eyes wide open, staring at the bed above her. His parents and the Evan's staring worriedly in her direction from the corner. Zeke sits on another bed, his head in his hands as Ryan paces in front of him and Jason stands next to Zeke, his arms crossed over his chest, a grim expression on his face. Chad walks over to the boys, and stops on the opposite side of Zeke, watching Ryan with interest as he knows sees him talking animatedly but quietly into a cell phone.

"Who's he talking to?" Chad whispers, glancing over at the sleeping girls.

"Sharpay," Zeke murmurs, not looking up, "I called to tell her that she should come down to spend some time with Gabi and that maybe she should bring Adri down so she could see her mother."

Chad winces, "And my guess would be she didn't take that too well."

Jason snorts, "That's an understatement," and then in a high pitched girl voice he mimics her screeching, "Gabriella will be home tomorrow there's no reason for Adri to be in that wrecked hospital!"

Frowning Chad looks at Ryan, "What's he trying to do?"

"Convince her that Gabi needs everyone who cares about her here and maybe if Adri's here Gabi will have some incentive to get better faster," Zeke mumbles with a sigh, finally looking up and following Ryan with his eyes.

Chad frowns, "That makes it sound like-"

"Gabi has no other reason to come out of this coma no matter how much anyone else loves her?" Jason gives a sharp nod, "She screamed that at Ryan about 2 minutes ago."

Chad sighs and walks over to Ryan, stopping his pacing and putting his hand out for the phone. Ryan groans and drops it in his hand, collapsing on the floor in exhaustion and leaning his head against the railing of one of the beds.

Chad takes a deep breath and interrupts Sharpay's angry rant, "Shar? Shar!" he whisper yells.

She stops in confusion, "Chad?"

He nods, "Yeah… How's Adri doing?"

Sharpay pauses, "She won't stop crying," she whispers. "I've tried everything but I don't know what's wrong." He hears her sharp intake of breath, "Gabi always knows what's wrong."

Closing his eyes Chad begins to say, "Shar maybe you should-"

There's a commotion outside the door, "CODE BLUE CODE BLUE in room 1414!"

The silence in the on call room was deafening, "Oh my god!" Taylor screeches waking up and racing to the door.

"Chad what is it? What's wrong!" Sharpay exclaims over the phone.

Coming out of his trance Chad frantically follows the others out of the room, "Sharpay you and Adri need to get here as soon as possible." He hears her moving around as she questions him frantically, "Just do it." He insists.

He didn't want to tell her that the code blue in 1414 was Gabriella.


	27. Sharpay's Perfect World

A/N: sorry I didn't update ASAP like even I thought I was going to, I had a paper due in English last week, but he gave it to us about two weeks ago and it took me that long to write it! It was terribleee…. So I let my brain rest for a few days before I finished this update…. Anyways here it is =)

**Chapter 26- Sharpay's Perfect World**

The tired blonde used her key to unlock the door and walk into the foyer, she slipped off her shoes and called into the house, "Hello?"

A maid carrying a baby walked into the foyer and stared at her in shock, "Ms. Evans what are you doing home? Your father told me about Ms. Montez…"

Smiling happily Sharpay nods, "Yes I know isn't it wonderful? She'll be home tomorrow!" stepping forward and taking the baby from the maid's shocked grasp Sharpay coos to her, "Your mommy's going to be home tomorrow Adri isn't that wonderful!" The little girl gave a bright smile and Sharpay lifted her up, tickling her stomach as she says, "Let's give you a bath so you're all nice and pretty for mommy huh?"

"Ms. Evans," the maid called uselessly as Sharpay walks up the stairs

"Melinda would you be a dear and draw up the bath for Adri? Gabi's going to need to rest when she gets back, I should have Adri all washed so she can play with her."

It was a terrible sight to see, this normally strong girl had finally broken. Unsure of what to do besides call her father and do as she asked, Melinda quickly picked up the phone, listening to the blonde talk to the baby girl in happy tones as worry lines creased further in her forehead.

"Adrianna Elise Ryanne Theresa Montez you are going to look so pretty when your mommy comes home, yes you are!" Sharpay exclaimed, walking happily into Adri's room, "Your mother's going to need to be on bed rest for a little while, but at least she'll be home with us!" carefully Sharpay began to undress her god daughter.

Clearing her throat Melinda steps into the room, "umm Ms. Evans?" When Sharpay nods to her she says, "The bath is all ready in Ms. Adrianna's bathroom and your father's on the phone – he wants to talk to you."

Smiling again Sharpay grabs Adri, walking to the maid and thanking her while taking the phone, "Hello?" she says right as she walks into Adri's bathroom.

"Princess," he father says as cheerily as he can, "What are you doing?"

She places Adri in the tub, laughing quietly when she squeals and splashes the water, "I'm giving Adri a bath Daddy! I want her to be all nice and clean for when Gabi comes home tomorrow."

There's a strained pause on the other side of the phone, Vance Evans clears his throat, "Sweetheart… Gabriella won't be-"

"Home until tomorrow night?" frowning Sharpay waves a careless hand, "That's all right – it just means we have more time to get ready."

Sighing her father says, "Sharpay – stop this right now."

Frowning still as she puts some shampoo in her hands and begins to wash Adri's dark hair she asks, "Stop what Daddy?"

Attempting to collect himself and not yell at his daughter Vance says, "Sweetie, you know that Gabriella is in a coma."

The doctor's words flash through Sharpay's mind as she growls lowly at her father, "She's taking a nap," she snaps. The baby in the water jumps, turning to look at her godmother, who does not look at her but, continues to wash her body. She smiles however, and says in a calm voice much like the one she'd adapted before, "Daddy I really need to go now, Adri's almost done with her bath and I don't want her catching a cold the day before Gabi comes home."

She hangs up before he can say anything else that's not true.

Sighing Sharpay pushes the words running through her head as far away as possible, content to remain in her perfect world. Smiling brightly she turns to Adrianna, "Alright sweetie let's-" stopping she has to catch her breath.

For the first time since she had entered her house, Sharpay looked into Adrianna's eyes, the eyes that she had inherited from her mother. She was suddenly lost in the pools of swirling brown, feeling as though she was drowning in the way they looked at her. If Sharpay hadn't known any better she would have thought that Adrianna had heard what her father said, and that she, unlike the older blonde, was comprehending what it meant. Sharpay was slowly starting to except it, it was those brown eyes – they'd always held some kind of power over her. She knew like the doctor said that the chances that Gabriella would come out of this a coma were slim. But she had forced herself to believe the opposite, that everything was fine when it really wasn't. If Sharpay admitted it to herself she was really waiting. Waiting for that one phone call that would tell of the end of Gabriella's pain and suffering, the end of her life. And Sharpay just wasn't sure she could take it, that she would be able to handle losing her best friend after everything.

Adri's little doe eyes shone with tears, and it was impossible for Sharpay to stop the sudden screams that erupted from her mouth, the tears that were suddenly pouring from her god daughter's eyes. In a frenzied state, she hurriedly got her out of the tub, wrapping her tightly in a towel and rocking her from side to side. Still staring into the eyes that seemed to be wiser than should be possible Sharpay sang the lullaby.

Twenty minutes later when Adri was still crying Sharpay felt like crying herself. She'd tried everything, and nothing seemed to calm the baby down. Sharpay's ringing cell phone snapped her out of her thoughts and she glanced down at the phone, seeing Zeke's number.

Her heart stopped, was this it? Was this the call?

"Hello?" she said shakily into the phone.

There was silence before she heard Zeke's voice, "Shar?" tentatively he asked, "Is everything okay there?"

Wincing as Adri let out a particularly loud cry Sharpay nodded, "Yeah Zeke things are fine."

He paused, and then said, this time sounding skeptical, "Are you sure?"

Closing her eyes Sharpay ignores his question, "Is everything okay there?"

He sighs, "So you…." Choosing instead not to ask if she had finally come to terms with Gabriella's condition Zeke answers, "We're all pretty tired – some nurses offered an on call room to us, so we're all in here."

Nodding and clearing her throat Sharpay whispers, "Who's with Gabi?"

"Chad," Zeke says shortly, "Ryan was with her but…" he trailed off, changing the subject, "Listen Shar maybe you should come down here. You know, bring Adri to see her mother – to say –"

"No," the blonde growled, suddenly furious again.

"Shar you can't just keep…"

"Gabriella will be home tomorrow! There's no reason for me to bring Adri to that wrecked hospital!" Sharpay screeches, suddenly forgetting that she had admitted to herself that her best friend may never wake up.

"Shar," Zeke whispers brokenly into the phone.

She hears a brief rustling then her twin's stern voice, "Sharpay."

She frowns, "No Ryan."

Ignoring her he continues, "Sharpay right now Gabriella needs everyone who loves her hear – that includes her daughter. Besides, maybe if Adri's here it will give Gabriella some incentive to wake up."

Sharpay's eyes flash and she asks in a dangerously low voice, "Are you saying that Adrianna is the only person Gabriella loves enough to wake up for?"

Over Adrianna's cries Sharpay can hear Ryan's quick intake of breath, "No," he assures her quickly, "Shar that's not what I meant at all."

Not listening to her brother she begins to scream again, "ADRIANNA ISN'T THE ONLY REASON GABRIELLA HAS TO WAKE UP! I LOVE HER TOO, SHE LOVES ME JUST LIKE SHE LOVES ADRI!" She takes a deep breath, "How could you even suggest that Ryan?" she questions, her voicing gaining volume again so that it drowns out Adrianna's screams, "HOW COULD YOU EVEN SUGGEST THAT MY BEST FRIEND DOESN'T LOVE ME LIKE A SISTER LIKE I DO HER. HOW COULD YOU EVEN SUGGEST THAT ADRIANNA IS THE ONLY REASON GABRIELLA HAS TO LIVE WHEN I'M STILL HERE, WHEN HER MOTHER'S STILL HERE WHEN –"

"Shar!" she hears a voice yell into the phone.

Pausing her rant, her eyebrows fur together, "Chad?"

"Yeah… How's Adri doing?" he asks quietly.

Looking down at the hysterical little girl in her Sharpay whispers, "She won't stop crying." Taking a deep breath she continues, "I've tried everything but I don't know what's wrong." She takes a sharp breath, her breathing becoming labored, "Gabi always knows what's wrong."

She hears nothing for a minute then Chad says, "Shar maybe you should-"

He stops suddenly, she can hear screaming on the line and her blood runs cold, code blue. In what room though? She waited anxiously to the deafening silence she could hear in the on call room, before she hears someone, Taylor she thinks, screech, "Oh my god!" then footsteps running.

"Chad what is it? What's wrong!" Sharpay exclaims into the phone.

His answer came through his fast breathing, "Sharpay you and Adri need to get here as soon as possible."

Rushing around, gathering some things Adri needs Sharpay questions him, "Why? What's wrong? Is it Gabi? CHAD WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Just do it!" he screamed in to the phone before he hung up.

She was frozen, the baby in her arms still crying, if it was possible even louder than before. It took her two seconds to realize that yes, that had been the phone call.


	28. Momma

**Chapter 27- Momma**

Sharpay burst out of the elevator, running to the waiting room on the fourteenth floor, and skidding to a halt, the bag on her shoulder swinging with her and the child in her arms crying loudly, when she sees half or Gabriella's friends and family sitting with their head in their hands.

"What is it?!" she asks frantically, drawing attention to herself, "What happened?"

Chad takes a deep breath and stands up, "Shar," he starts.

"No," she says shaking her head and stepping away from him, "No she's not –"

"Shar, no…" Chad starts, "She's not dead." When she sighs in relief he frowns, "Yet."

Sharpay's face falls and her body starts to shake, "What happened?" Chad comes forward, trying to take Adrianna from her but she shakes her head, clutching her god daughter tighter, "Chad what happened? What's going to happen?"

Chad sighs, "Troy was in the room with her-"

"You left Bolton in there with her?" She demands angrily.

Ignoring her Chad continues, "When her heart suddenly stops. It took the doctors 5 minutes just to get it beating again. After they did he told us that if it happens again it's unlikely that they'll be able to get it to start again, her heart it too weak. With the strain of the surgery, and the lack of food, water and everything over the last few weeks he's afraid that the damage is unfixable."

Frozen for a second Sharpay clutches the still crying child closer to her chest, "So that's it? The next time her heart stops she's dead?"

Chad nods sadly, "Yeah… he said they'll try to resurrect her but the chances of it happening are slim to known. He said we should say goodbye."

The tears start to fall from Sharpay's eyes, "I need to say goodbye."

Chad nods, pulling her into his arms despite her resistant, "Troy's in there now but after… We'll do it together. Okay Shar? You're not alone here." He was being strong, but as he said this, his voice waivered, "I've never liked you. I always thought you were a bitch. But I know Gabi, she would want us to get along – she would want us to be there for each other."

Sobbing into Chad's chest she asks, "And Adri? What do we do with Adri?"

Looking down at the crying child he says, "We try to raise her the way Gabriella would have. We help Maria, but never replace Gabriella. We tell her everything we can about Gabi – telling her how hard her mother worked to keep her, how much she loved her."

Tears started to fall from Chad's eyes as Sharpay shook her head, "This isn't how it's supposed to end Chad. She's supposed to be here, raising her daughter, I'm not supposed to do it for her – I'm not supposed to have to tell my goddaughter about her mother."

Crying freely now Chad nods, "But sometimes Shar, life doesn't happen the way we want it to."

As the two teens held each other, both crying for the best friend they knew they would miss – the mother that the little girl in their arms would never get to meet.

Cutting through the silence, drowning out their cries, was the single monotone beep coming from room 1414. There was silence, an eerie stillness that seemed unnatural as the sound registered with the Wildcat gang.

"No!" Sharpay screamed, turning to rush with the doctors into Gabriella's room, "No!"

Staring at her best friend and sister Sharpay was broken, next to Gabriella stood the boy who had once loved her more than anyone could understand. Troy watched helplessly as the doctors tore at Gabriella gown, placing the paddles on her chest and shocking he.

Chad watched from the doorway, directly behind Sharpay with his eyes wide and tears continuing to fall as he stares at his baby sister.

The baby in Sharpay's arms cries louder, listening as the nurses try to push everyone out of the room, their pleas barely being heard over Sharpay's screeching.

"GABI NOO! PLEASE GABI! PLEASE!" She cries, the sobs wracking her body.

There wasn't silence, but the little voice that could be heard throughout the whole room startled Troy. He look towards Sharpay, almost willing her to say it again.

"Momma," the little girl cried, he voice behind heard clearly over the single beep.

Troy's eyes flashed once – before brown met blue.

A/N: I would say I'm sorry for an confusion, but I'm not =) I like confusing people haha  
I am however sorry that this is soo short


	29. Again please read

A/N: okay so I was actually planning on updating a lot this weekend since I'm at home until Tuesday, but earlier tonight, don't ask how cause it's kind of embarrassing, I gave myself second degree burns on four fingers (not my thumb) on my left hand. I literally can't move them and actually might go to the hospital tonight if the swelling/pain gets worse, if not I'm going to see a doctor tomorrow. I can't type everything I wanted to one handed – it's taken me fifteen minutes to just write this. So as soon as I'm better I'll finished** "Vanished"** and I promise I'll have two updates up for **"ATWT"**.

Sorry again and thanks for your patience.

Anyone notice that I'm extremely accident prone?


	30. When Brown Meets Blue

A/N: I don't own some of the scenes, you'll see what I mean.

**Chapter 28- When Brown Meets Blue**

"_Yes, I do still love you."_

Floating, that's all Gabriella Montez could tell you – she was floating. One minute Troy was there, telling her he was still in love with her, and then she was seeing white. The light was surrounding her when suddenly the phrase, "life flash before my eyes," flashed through her mind.

Flashes

"_I'm sorry to tell you this Mrs. Montez, but your husband didn't make it."_

"_He died on impact, didn't feel a thing."_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Gabi, it's New Year's Eve. Enough reading."_

"_But mom, I'm almost done!"_

"_The teen party? I've laid out your best clothes. Come get ready."_

_-----------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Troy."_

"_Gabriella."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Well, you sound like you've done a lot of singing, too."_

"_Yeah, my showerhead is very impressed."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Our Scholastic Decathlon team has its first competition next week and there is certainly a spot for you!" _

"_Where did those come from?" _

"_Didn't you put them in my locker?" _

"_Of course not..."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Do you remember in kindergarten, how you'd meet a kid, and know nothing about them, then 10 seconds later you'd be playing like you were best friends, because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?"_

"_Yeah." _

"_Singing with you felt like that."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I thought you were my fairytale a dream when I'm not sleeping."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Hey I need to talk to you about something..." _

"_And here it is, look I know what it's like to carry a love with your friends. I get it so we're good."_

"_Good about what? I came to talk to you about the callbacks." _

"_I don't want to do the callback either. You've got your team and I've got mine go Wildcats."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I can't do this, Troy. Not with everyone staring at me..." _

"_Hey, hey, hey. Look at me- right at me. Like the first time together, remember... Like kindergarten."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_My mom said summer jobs are good on college applications." _

"_All part of the frightening concept called our future."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I understand you've moved every summer for the past five years, and I'd hate to think today is goodbye."_

"_No worries. My mom promised I'm here until graduation next year."_

"_Bless Mom's little heart."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_When I hear my favorite song, I know that we belong. Oh, you are the music in me. Yeah it's living in all of us and it's brought us here because you are the music in me."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Hey Gab!"_

"_Hey ."_

"_That girl's got more moves then an octopus in a wrestling match."_

"_Nah, he knows how to swim."_

"_Yeah Troy can handle himself."_

"_I did overhear him asking her opinion on her Italian golf shoes."_

"_He didn't ask me."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_...I promise."_

"_Promise is a really big word, Troy."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Wow Wildcat!"_

"_Too much?"_

"_Um... only in daylight. East High colors. Very impressive."_

"_Hey, be true to your school right?"_

"_Absolutely. Everyone's excited about doing the show."_

"_Hey, look, I know everyone thinks that I'm Sharpay's... poodle, but I really think that I could…" _

"_Hey, if they were thinking that, they're not thinking that today."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Sharpay! Forget about the rest of us, how about the fact that your brother has worked extremely hard on this show?"_

"_Oh boo-hoo, he'll be in the show, he'll do his celebrity impersonations. Don't lecture me about Ryan, giving the way you've been interfering with Troy's future."_

"_What?"_

"_You've gotten him written up by Fulton for sneaking on the golf course and swimming after hours. I had to step in just to save Troy's job."_

"_I'm not interested in what you think you're doing for Troy, that's between you and him. But you're messing with my friends and my summer and that's not ok with me."_

_Sharpay Evans: You don't like the fact that I won. _

"_What's the prize? Troy? The Stardazzle award? You have to go through all this just to get either one? No, thanks Sharpay. You're very good at a game that I don't want to play. So, I'm done here. But you better step away from the mirror long enough to check the damage that will always be right behind you."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_What about us? What about everything we've been through?"_

"_What about trust?"_

"_You know I never wanted to hurt you!"_

"_What about me?" _

"_What am I supposed to do?"_

"_I gotta leave, but I'll miss you..."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Once in a lifetime, means there's no second chance. So I believe that you and me, should grab it while we can."_

"_Make it last forever and never give it back."_

"_It's our turn, and I'm loving' where we're at."_

"_Because this moment's really all we have."_

"_Everyday of our lives, wanna find you there, wanna hold on tight. Gonna run, while we're young and keep the faith. Every day from right now, gonna use our voices and scream out loud. Take my hand; Together we will celebrate."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Here's to our future"_

" _No. Here's to right now."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Don't scream."_

"_Please, No."_

"_You're going to pay for that."_

"_Please, please stop."_

"_You want this Gabriella. You've wanted this since you met me."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I'll protect you._ _I'll help you get over this – I'll – I'll do anything if you just wake up. Just snap out of this. Because you're scaring me."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_There's something else."_

"_What is it Ella?"_

"_I'm pregnant."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Yes you can Brie, you've come this far! Your strong."_

"_It's a girl!"_

"_Pay, it's a girl."_

"_You have a girl."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_You already gave her up for adoption, you can't just suddenly decide that you want her again."_

"_A-a-adoption?"_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Hi Mrs. Darbus."_

"_Ms. Montez, note please."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I almost didn't recognize you."_

"_Ummm, your hair is darker… and shorter."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Everything will go as planned Gab…. I promise."_

"_You can't promise me that Ry, no matter how much I wish you could."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Zeke what-"_

"_I know… I know why you left last year."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_How many man have you slept with Gabriella? Do you even know?"_

"_SHE WAS RAPED!"_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_A lot has happened over the last couple months that you don't know about Chad."_

"_So tell me."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I think she likes you Uncle Chad."_

"_Uncle?"_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_No Gabriella, I know you know who raped you. And I figured out who it was."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Oh no, I think we should because you know she should know what a slut her mother is."_

"_Do not insult me in front of my daughter. You can say what ever you want to me – I probably deserve it – but my daughter does not need to hear these things."_

"_Do you feel ashamed? Did you feel like whore? Is that why you left? Didn't want your public to know that you weren't the perfect little girl they all thought you were?"_

"_Stop it Troy."_

"_Did it feel good? To have him slamming inside of you and knowing that you were cheating on a guy who loved you when you felt nothing for him? Did you have a good laugh with her father about the fucking retard who loved you why you were out whoring around."_

"_Stop it!" _

"_Where's her father huh? Did he realize what a slut you were and leave you? Did he not want your bastard child? Or did he just not want you?" She was crying, the baby looking close to tears as well, but I was yelling still, angrily stomping closer to her – my face close to hers. "Did you feel it? The moment when the two of you connected and he came inside you and the bastard in your arms was conceived? HUH? DID YOU LOVE FEELING HIM INSIDE YOU? DID YOU MOAN HIS NAME? DID HE MILK YOU FOR ALL YOU WERE WORTH?"_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Ella, no one can hurt you anymore. No one will hurt you anymore. You have so much to live for, you have a daughter that needs you. This time, I'm not going to let you revert into yourself because I made a promise to protect that girl upstairs and that includes making sure she has her mother."_

"_Pay?" _

"_I'm right here Elle, right here. I'm not going anywhere."_

"_Why me? Why did it happen to me?"_

"_I don't know, sometimes bad things – terrible things – happen to the people who deserve them the least."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"… _the only thing I can't figure out is who you're trying to protect."_

"_I'm not protecting anyone Shar."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Ah so you're awake. How are you feeling my love?"_

"_Stop it."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_You want to get out of here alive don't you? Maybe you should corporate."_

"_But I don't think you're going to let me go."_

"_You got that right Montez. I'll kill you before you walk out of here alive."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Hello?"_

"_Hi."_

"_Gabi?"_

"_Ry, help."_

"_Gabriella where are you?"_

"_The Lava Springs Basement."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Take another step and I'll shoot her."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Because she's mine now. She's had my daughter - Speaking of where is the little brat? She should be here to say goodbye to her parents It's a shame the only time I saw her was when I was beating her mother. It's was her I went to the house for you know, yes I know, Gabriella didn't need to be hurt, she didn't even need to be brought here with me. But she just wouldn't let me take my daughter. So I figured why try and take the brat when I could get the better thing -"_

"_Troy!"_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_Shar's going crazy Gab."_

"_Please Brie – please, just wake up."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_So you have to wake up Gabs. You have to, because I haven't gotten the chance to return the favor."_

_------------------------------------------------------------------_

"_I still love you – even when I thought you'd cheated on me I still loved you. But the question is do you still love me."_

End Flashes

Pain. All that was left after was pain. The light had disappeared, and she was once again brought into the black oblivion where all that existed was the pain she felt where her body should be.

She watched from above as the doctors resurrected her, watching as before her eyes Troy fell apart at her bedside. She knew the exact moment when she was brought back to life.

"We're sorry to tell you this but if her heart stops again, it's unlikely that we'll be able to resurrect her."

She made a promise to herself, that she would keep her heart beating, that no matter what she did she would fight like hell – even though it hurt.

"I'm not going to say goodbye to you Gabriella," she heard Troy say to her – they were alone again. "I;m saying goodbye because I know that you're going to keep your heart beating. I know you, you're too stubborn to die."

She was fading, the bright white light peaking at first through the darkness, but then it took over again. She watched this time as Troy stood, screaming at her – begging her not to die. Then Sharpay came in and Gabriella wished she was strong enough to endure the pain, wished she was strong enough to go and lay back in her body and fight through it. But she knew she couldn't. It was easier just to die.

"GABI NOOO! PLEASE NOOO!!!"

_I'm sorry Shar, she whispered to herself, the pain finally leaving her body_

"Momma."

What was that? Suddenly she remembered, her daughter – someone who needs her, who shouldn't need to be with anyone but her.

She watched as realization dawned on Troy, Sharpay and Chad, saw all three of them look at th crying little girl in Sharpay's arms.

"Momma."

Everything spun around her, she saw nothing at first and felt nothing but pain again, before suddenly the beeping stopped and she was staring into the ocean.


	31. Vanished

A/N: Okay, this is the last chapter. Wow, the first story I've ever finished on . Sorry I didn't warn you guys that this would be the last one, I wasn't actually sure if it would be or not – but the way it turned out I think this should end it pretty well.

I do want to thank everyone for their support and I have over 100 reviews, only three over but you know it still over, and I really appreciate the people who took the time to read my story and comment on it.

This is not even close to the last thing I'll do on here – I have other stories already started, plus more ideas keep coming, so I may have a new story up in the next couple months or so.

Again, thank you for all your support, I know I didn't update as much as I hoped and it was probably hard for people to stay with me through this long year and a half…. Wow a year and a half. Jeesh. Anyways, thanks again.

And yes Hollygirl1823, my hand is better =) missing lots of skin but better haha

Without further ado…

**Chapter 29- Vanished**

"ADRIANNA ELISE RYANNE THERESA MONTEZ! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN STAIRS!" the blonde screamed up the stairs.

"Shar, don't yell at her," the afro haired man exclaims from behind her, "She's going as fast as she can."

Glaring at the man before her the blonde, Sharpay, huffs, "We're going to be late."

Smirking he says, "It's not like they'll start without her."

Opening her mouth to retort she's cut off by a sweet voice from behind her, "He is right Auntie Pay."

Turning Sharpay smiles softly, bouncing down the stairs is a small four year old girl, her dark brown hair hangs down in perfect waves to the middle of her back, her olive skin glows and her chocolate brown eyes sparkle as she looks at her godmother. She hops down from the last step, running full speed to her Uncle's open arms and jumping up. He catches her, spinning her lightly so that she giggles and then hugs her tightly.

"Hi Uncle Chad."

"Hi Dri," the now twenty two year old man whispers, hugging his "niece" tightly. He puts her down on the ground, and bends down on his knees so that he's level with her, "You've gotten a little taller kiddo, a couple more inches and you'll be as tall as the window sill."

The brunette child frowns, "I'm not that short Uncle Chad."

He laughs and shakes his head, "You're not that tall either Adri."

Frowning she huffs and turns to the blonde woman, "Auntie Shar he's picking on me again."

Sharpay rolls her eyes, "That's because he's afraid to pick on people his own size sweetie."

Chad rolls his eyes as well, standing to his full height, "Wasn't it you who was complaining that we were going to be late?"

She screeches and frantically pushes Adrianna out the door, "Oh yes you're right! Chad hurry up!"

Rolling his eyes again Chad glances around the familiar house once, smiling softly at the picture of him and Adri as a baby. He shuts off the lights and locks the door behind him, following the two woman to the car.

"Mrs. Montez?"

"Yes?"

The older Montez woman turns, her dark purple taffeta dress swishing as she spins, and faces the delivery boy.

"Where do you want these?"

He holds up a gold center piece and she studies it for a minute, "The table up front I think…. Yes the front table."

She watches as he places the center piece in the middle of the longest table and nods to herself, glancing around once before returning to her previous post of fixing the flowers. She hums to herself, fixing one of the roses as Zeke leaves from the kitchen.

"Zeke!" the younger man jumps and looks guiltily at her.

"Hi Maria."

The Latina shakes her head with a small smile on her lips, "What did Sharpay tell you?"

Zeke frowns, "Not to bother the chef." He continues to frown, "But I wasn't bothering him!" seeing her looks he amends, "Not really anyways. I mean, he totally almost overcooked the chicken!"

Maria laughs, shaking her head again, "Zeke you're job isn't to fix the chefs mistakes today."

"I don't know why I couldn't just cook."

"Sharpay didn't want you doing too many things at once, speaking of – aren't you supposed to be with the man of the hour?"

Smiling sheepishly Zeke shrugs, "I won't tell Shar you were fussing over the flowers again if you don't tell her I was bothering the chef."

Blushing because she knows she was caught Maria nods, "Deal."

Zeke glances around, a soft smile on his face, "The place looks beautiful."

Maria smiles brightly, "You should see the inside."

Ryan knocks once on the door, opening it and poking his head in, "Knock knock."

"Hey Ry," Kelsi whispers, she motions for him to come in, "How's everything out there going?"

Ryan shrugs and sits down on the couch next to her, "Pretty good, what about in here?"

There's a crash heard from the closed door on the other side of the room and Kelsi winces, "Um okay?"

Ryan looks concerned when he hears hysterical murmuring that's almost impossible to make out, "What's going on in there?"

Kelsi sighs, wincing when the volume of the voices gets louder, "Where's Sharpay when you need her?"

"Gabriella Elizabeth Carmen Loretta Montez calm down!"

"Calm down!?" the brunette woman screeches, "What do you mean calm down Taylor!"

Taking a deep breath, Taylor grasps Gabriella's hand in one of her's, stopping the brunette's continuous pacing. "Breath Gabi…. Take deep breaths."

Glaring at the African American woman Gabriella rips her hand away and points a shaky finger to the counter of her vanity, "I can't calm down Taylor – did you see that? It was…"

"Gabi?" someone calls from the other side of the door, "Sweetie open the door."

It was Ryan. Momentarily staring wide eyed at Taylor, Gabriella answers, "Hang on a second Ry." Frantically she hides the evidence, shoving it in one of the many bags that line the wall, and walks slowly to open the door for him.

"Is everything o-"he stops suddenly and smiles softly, looking her up and down, "Oh Gabi – you look gorgeous."

Blushing Gabriella smiles, "Thanks Ry," she whispers, smoothing out her skirt.

"Okay, we're here sorry we're l-"Sharpay rushes in, pulling Adri by the hand but freezes in the doorway, "oh my god." Tears fell from the blonde's eyes as she stared at her best friend, "Look at you, you're gorgeous, no you're more than gorgeous."

"Momma, you look like an angel," Adrianna says as she skips into the room and tugs at her mother's hand.

Careful of her dress Gabriella bends down, and smiles softly, tucking a piece of Adrianna's hair behind her ear, "Thank you baby – you look pretty too."

The matching smile is familiar, and glows brightly, "Really?"

Giggling Gabriella nods, "You look like a princess."

Fussing over Gabi's dress Sharpay moves about, "Gabi stand up you're going to ruin your dress."

Rolling her eyes Gabriella puts her hands on Sharpay's arms, "Shar, relax."

Taylor scoffs, "And when I told you that two minutes ago you snapped at me."

Glaring at Taylor Gabriella retorts, "That's completely different."

Looking between the two Sharpay frowns, "It was-"

"Yes," Gabriella interrupts grumpily.

Sharpay's mouth drops open and she squeals, "Oh my god!"

The door slams open and Chad enters the room, "Stop worrying I have arrived!"

The blue eyed man in the room continues to pace back and forth, ignoring his best friend, as he mumbles to himself. Chad watches in amusement and turns to Jason, who shrugs.

"He's been doing this since we got here an hour ago."

Sighing Chad steps in front of Troy, "Dude, stop pacing, you're going to scoff your shoes – then Sharpay will have your head."

"What if she changes her mind?" Troy asks, his worried eyes looking up at his friends.

Chad shrugs, "Then this last year of preparations is for nothing."

Glaring at Chad Troy exclaims, "I'm serious! What if she realizes that she wants someone else?"

Rolling his eyes Chad says, "She won't."

"How do you know!" Troy exclaims, as he finally stops pacing.

Chad sighs again, placing both his hands on Troy's shoulders, "Because she loves you."

**Flashback**

"Momma!"

Sharpay looked down at the little girl in her arms, shock radiating off her features, "Did she just say-"

"Uh huh," Chad remarks as he walks farther into the room, staring at the baby.

"Guys," Troy whispers, "I think Gabi's-"

Suddenly remembering the no longer existing beep Sharpay's eyes snap to the bed and meet a pair of familiar brown ones.

"Did my daughter just say my name?" the hoarse voice whispers.

"Gabi!" Sharpay exclaims as she rushes forward and sobs at the brunette's bedside, "God I thought I'd never see you again."

Smiling softly, Gabriella soothes her by rubbing her back, throwing Chad, who was crying tears of relief on the floor of her hospital room a small smile Gabriella shakes her head, "You can't get rid of me that easily." She looks up and once again her eyes meet Troy's, "I love you too Troy."

_But Gabriella waking up had some consequences_

"We're sorry to inform you Ms. Montez that it seems unlikely you will ever regain the full function of your legs."

_Obviously miracles happen, she can walk again. But when one woman has already been given several miracles, can she really receive another one?_

"We're sorry to inform you Ms. Montez that the bullet wound to your stomach had some lasting damage, you may never have children again. The scar tissue surrounding your uterus is too extensive; with the rape and the bullet wound it's unlikely that you'll ever be able to carry a child again."

**End Flashback**

Carefully placing the jeweled headband in her hair Sharpay smiles softly at the brunette, "There," she whispers, "perfect."

Taking a deep breath Gabriella looks at herself in the mirror. The white of her wedding dress set off her olive skin, giving it a healthy looking glow. The dress was strapless with an a-line silhouette, had a floor length, semi cathedral train and was decorated with rhinestones in the center, it was fairly plain, gathered at the waist and only slightly sparkly from the rhinestones, but that was what Gabriella wanted. Her hair was down to the middle of her back in the same perfect waves as her daughters, but there was a thin jeweled headband placed about two inches from her hairline and from the headband came her veil that was the same length as her dress with scattered sequins throughout. Her makeup was light, but more noticeable than usual, she was wearing her something borrowed, a white gold heart bracelet from Sharpay, her something old, a pair of her grandmother's diamond earrings and her something blue was her azure engagement ring that sat on her finger, the only new thing she had on was the dress and that was enough for her.

Turning away from the image of herself she turns to her best friend, "Thanks Shar."

A single tear falls from Sharpay's eyes and she swipes at it, smiling at Gabriella, "I can't believe my best friend is getting married the day after we graduate from college."

Smiling softly as she remembered graduating from UCLA just yesterday Gabriella shrugs, "I didn't want to wait any longer, neither did he."

"Gabi," Maria breaths as she walks in carrying Adrianna, "You look beautiful."

Smiling at her grandmother Adrianna jumps down from her arms, twirling around in her white and red flower girl dress she says, "Doesn't she look like an angel Nanni?"

Smiling softly at the miniature of her daughter Maria nods, "Just like an angel."

Ryan smiles, watching the scene from off to the side and clears his throat, "You ready Gabs?"

She nods once, stepping closer to him and smiling, "Thank you for doing this for me Ry."

"I wouldn't do this for anyone else," he says with a smile, "Hey," he whispers when he sees tears in her eyes, "If I have to give you away to anyone – I'm glad it's Troy."

She wipes carefully at her eyes, "Don't make me cry."

Laughing he smiles at the women in the room well let's get out there.

In the church Troy stands nervously in front of the crowd of people gathered here to see him get married. He waits anxiously, Chad standing next to him, for the music to start, signaling that he would be married in just a few short minutes.

Kelsi begins to play the slow version of 'what I've been looking for' and Troy hold his breath as the doors open and Taylor, the only other bridesmaid aside from Gabriella's maid of honor Sharpay, walks gracefully down the aisle.

Chad smiles at her, the netting of the dress ends just below her knee and the red sash accents her bust, the white of the gown showing off her dark skin, and winks when he sees that she knew he was checking her out.

Taylor rolls her eyes, but smiles none the less at all three men as she passes Zeke, Chad, then Troy, to get to her spot on Gabriella's side.

Trying not to fidget Troy watches as Sharpay, dressed in the same red and white dress as Taylor, walks slowly down the aisle, taking in the beautifully decorated church that as wedding planner she had helped put together. She smiles at Zeke, winking at him before standing where next to the spot with Gabriella.

The little girl that skips down the aisle next causes everyone to chuckle and aww, she's dressed in miniature version of the dress her godmother and aunt were wearing, and throwing a mix of white and red rose petals on the floor. She smiles at the crowd, the familiar giggle she inherited fromher mother making Troy smile softly at the girl he thinks of as a daughter.

When she reaches the front she stops right before him and bends her finger, motioning for him to bend down. He quirks an eyebrow up as everyone in the crowd laughs, but bends down anyways.

"Momma looks really pretty Daddy," she whispers before kissing his cheek and standing next to her blonde godmother.

He feels tears in his eyes as he looks at her, remembering the first day she called him daddy.

**Flashback (Junior Year of college)**

Troy looks down at the brunette sleeping beside him and smiles softly, pushing the baby curl that had fallen from her bun out of her face. It was 2:30 in the morning on November 20th 2011 but Troy couldn't force his eyes to shut. His mind was working in overdrive as he stared at his girlfriend.

She'd been through so much, and now, her she was, sleeping beside him in their apartment with nothing but his t-shirt on.

"Stop staring at me," she murmured sleepily.

Jumping slightly he looks down only to be met with the chocolate brown eyes of the love of his life, "I thought you were asleep."

She stenches and moans quietly, shaking her head, "It's hard to sleep when you can feel someone intensely staring at you."

Troy shrugs, not denying that he was watching her, "You're peaceful when you sleep. I love watching you."

She smiles, reaching a hand up to touch his cheek, "I didn't say I minded."

The sudden cry coming from the room down the hall causes both of them to sit up, and run into the room that was Adrianna's. Gabriella reached her first, pulling her into her arms and rocking the now three year old.

"Shhh baby," she cooed, "What's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream," the little girl cried into her mother's neck.

"What about baby?" Gabriella whispered as she rubbed her daughters back.

Troy smiled softly watching the two who were similar in both looks and personality, they truly were mother and daughter, and he felt privileged just to be a part of that.

"Daddy said you didn't want me anymore."

The two adults froze when she said that, Gabriella tensing in fear and Troy in anger.

"Daddy?" Gabriella whispered.

The little girl nodded, oblivious to the tension as she removed her head from her mother's neck and looks up at Troy, "Daddy you still want me don't you?"

The two adults continued to stare at the little girl, both so overwhelmed that they had no idea what to do, "Sweetie, are you calling Troy-" Gabriella couldn't finish her statement, looking at Troy.

"Daddy," Adrianna finished looking at the man in front of her, "he is my daddy."

"Adri," Troy starts.

"No," Adrianna says shaking her head, "I know you're not really my daddy."

Gabriella frowns, "Sweetie what do you mean?"

"Mrs. Appplebottom said that a daddy is someone who is always there for you and loves you and your mommy more then anything, Troy loves me and you mommy – doesn't that mean he's my daddy?"

"Oh baby-" Gabriella starts

Troy cuts her off, "If you want me to be Adri."

"Troy," Gabriella starts.

"No Gabi," he says smiling softly, "Adri is right, I do love you both – and I would love to one day adopt her."

Gabriella stared into troy's eyes, searching for the answers to her confusion, she felt her heart melt when Adrianna climbed out of her lap and into Troy's burying her head into his chest and mumbled, "I love you daddy."

Troy, kissed her forehead, and mumbles back, "I love you too princess."

**End Flashback**

The music started and everything around him vanished as he stared at the goddess walking toward him. She was beautiful and despite all the tragedies that had happened in her life, they were finally here – surrounded by family, friends and their daughter to profess their love to one another. As she finally made her way toward him on Ryan's arm he could do nothing but stare at the woman he had loved since he was 16. He watched as she smiled at him, a smile that after she was kidnapped no one thought they would ever see again.

She'd made it this far, made it past all the bad to finally find the good and marry the man she fell inlove with. She stopped in front of him, smiling still as she took his hand. Briefly she kissed Ryan's cheek, and turned to kiss Troy's whispering two words that had changed her live once before in his ear, "It's Positive."

As Troy heard those words, the people in the audience disappeared, the fact that they were in a church about to get married flew from his mind. He pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately.

**Flashback**

She was sobbing hysterically in their bedroom on their wedding day and he had no idea what to do.

"Bolton!" Sharpay screamed running into their new house, "What did you do?" she asked threateningly.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed desperately, "one minute she was fine then she looked at the calendar and freaked out."

Frowning Sharpay pushed him aside and knocked on the locked door, "Ella? Sweetie? It's me."

"Pay?" the voice whispered, it was full of tears.

Scowling at Troy she asks, "What did the bastard do to you?"

Sobbing can be heard on the other side of the door again, "I think he got me pregnant."

They were sobs of joy.

**End Flashback**

He pulled back, admist the commotion they had started in the church and looked into her eyes, "We're having another baby."

With tears in her eyes Gabriella nods, "We're having another baby."

_**The End**_

* * *

Wow. That's it. Idk if I actually liked the end or not, tell me what you think I guess.


	32. Chapter 32

I'm Sorry To Do this but I'm changing my penname

XXwatchemeworkXX Twinkle*LittleStarr (and because I don't remember if I can do this * it might be and _ or and XX in between – terribly sorry)


End file.
